Dreams
by Nimondor
Summary: All I wanted to become was a pokémon field researcher but life decided to say no and threw in emotional girls, horrible weather, a teacher who says we need to train baby pokémon, violent pokémon and a criminal organization that wants to kill me. They say achieving your dreams was difficult, but I don't think they meant it was supposed to be this hard!
1. Prologue

**A/N: Well, here's an OC story now! I know, weird, right? But hey, OC stories are sometimes fun to write, so here's one of mine, and for my username's namesake, here is Nim's story :) Hope you enjoy!**

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**Prologue**

"_Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true."_

_-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

If training had been easy, how many people would have succeeded? How many trainers would there be in the world, anyway? I wonder about this a great deal of times and I doubt my answer would change and my answer is simple. There wouldn't be any trainers. No, no, not because of the travelling, the adventure of meeting different people. You wouldn't be a shining star in this place you call home, you would be just like everyone else: the same. But you may ask, why is becoming a trainer so difficult? It's another simple answer, really. All pokémon are different.

Different types, creatures, abilities, defense statuses, you name it. But the most important reason is because each and every single one of these strange creatures we live with has their own personality, and I'm sure if they were able to speak just like human beings, they would each tell you they had dreams of their own. Some want to just live their lives normally, others want to be left alone. But there are a few who venture out of their own homes just like us human beings, they want to travel. Not necessarily with a human, per say, but even a local bully would know when a pokémon wants to join your party and become the strongest it could ever achieve, to become that shining star in their homes.

But sometimes dreams are ripped from pokémon and humans alike, some are caught and sold, others can't leave because parents become too worried about them, or sometimes they stop themselves because they're scared. They are frightened of the cruel world that held many blocks in their path but you know what I say to that? Those blocks are mere stepping stones that can lead to greater things, possibilities that you could never dream of. You could dream of becoming a gym leader but along the way, you could find a path that could lead you to become a member of the Elite Four instead, or even Regional Champion.

For some people, such as myself, we have dreams that we've always desired since we could walk. For example, my mother wanted to become a pokémon nurse and she achieved it through hard work and lots of school. I remember her always being exhausted from taking care of me and my older sister, going to school and then work at night until nearly midnight or even one in the morning only to start her day all over again at six to get us ready for school. She would constantly tell us that whatever we wanted to do later in life, you would have to work hard for it and the reward would be plentiful.

What is my dream? I want to become a pokémon researcher. I want to discover all of the pokémon, how and why they exist, why some of them evolve and why others don't. I know there are a lot of researchers out there, but I want to be the first, at least in the Kanto region, to discover them all. But instead of taking the schooling route, I wanted to go out into the wilderness to discover them on my own, not use simple books and rely on others to do the fun work for me!

First, however, I had to shut off that loud, annoying sound that was blaring right beside my ear. I reached my hand up and slammed (albeit, harder than I had intended) it against the alarm clock's snooze button. Once the silence greeted me, I rolled onto my stomach and stuffed my face into the pillow, not minding that breathing had become a little harder now. I was pretty sure that my bright red hair was all over the place despite me getting a haircut the day before, and after closing my eyes for not even five seconds, the alarm clock started blaring the annoying _BEEP BEEP BEEP_ over and over again until I finally forced myself to sit up and turn the damned thing off.

I figured I was doing well enough for now, I still lived with my mom, but she was gone most of the time and I was always at school. Her words were if I wanted to continue to live at the house I had to go to school full-time and if I ever stopped for some reason, I would have to pay rent for six months and then she would kick me out of the house. Oh, by the way, I'm only seventeen now. I just graduated high school, and my summer vacation had consisted of Viridian University's _finest_ (and I say that lightly) freshman courses, four of them to be exact. I was told to take the boring ones during the summer, that way I would have to sit through three months of torture, instead only seven weeks, five days for two hours. It was the last week of school, and my brain was fried from the studying I had to do for finals and it was proved by all of my books scattered across my bed and desk.

After nearly ten minutes of staring at the wall trying to wake up, I finally rolled out of bed and stretched. It was six-forty-three a.m. Oh boy. I had to get a move on if I wanted to get to school by seven-thirty. Once I stood up and pulled off the white t-shirt, I flipped the television onto the news as I got ready for my shower. Luckily Mom was already at work and my sister, Quinn, was in the Unova Region for her schooling and since she was a… well, more serious kind of person, we didn't really talk. The last I heard of her was that she was graduating college this year and she already had a job lined up. She was studying to become a history buff or whatever it was, I didn't really care. She and I aren't really on good terms, nor have we ever been.

Our home was small, but since it housed two people that were hardly ever here, it was the perfect size. Right across from my bedroom was the bathroom, and I could turn the television up as loud as I wanted to hear it over the roaring of the shower. The outside needed a paintjob, there was a leak in the roof in Quinn's old bedroom, and a local pokémon had decided to move in near the neighborhood and liked going through trash cans and knocking them over at night time. I constantly asked my mother when we were going to get the roof fixed, fix the chipped painting outside and when we would move, but she always replied with, "Whenever I get the chance, honey. Now can you clean your room?" Hey, my room isn't that messy! Actually… yea, it is messy. At least I have clear paths to the door, my bed and desk!

I looked in the mirror as I entered the bathroom, tuning out the T.V. for once. I used to have shaggy hair and long bangs that covered my face and eyes, but with the haircut, I had shorter, red spiky hair that was all over the place from the daily bed head. Staring back at me were a pair of emerald eyes, hair that I wasn't used to and I looked in the mirror closer, touching my chin gently and sighed. Not even peach fuzz! I was seventeen and I didn't even have facial hair yet! With a sigh, I entered the shower and sighed in bliss as the hot water and steam started to wake me up. I wasn't paying much attention to the news again, there were only a few notes about local events and how popular pokémon training was starting to become.

I snorted in disgust. Why did they send pokémon out to fight each other? It made no sense to me to fight each other for money or for fun, but I guess that is what some people loved to do. I can't really say much though, I do sometimes watch battles on television. Battling on television wasn't very common when I was, say, five or even eight. It was only just beginning to become popular, after all. People were even talking about pitting hundreds of trainers together to become the best.

I stepped out of the shower and after entering my (messy) room, I went immediately to my dresser, searching for a pair of tan pants and a long-sleeved white buttoned shirt. I grabbed my tan tie and shoved my books into my back-pack in a hurry, knowing if I spared even a minute I would be late for school. Even in college we had to wear these damned uniforms. At least it was Friday, I didn't have to do anything tomorrow and on the plus side, it was the last day of summer school, so the last of finals and I would get my grades today as well! I was sure I'd do fine, but I couldn't be late today, no siree!

I practically ran to school, very glad that it was seven-twenty-six by the time I entered my first class. Over the course of the long day, we took test after test and finally it was all over, making me smile with giddy joy as I held the piece of paper with all of my grades on it. I hadn't failed a single class, and all of my crazy studying habits were actually useful for all of this! I hadn't received one B. With all four classes aced, I ran home again, ready to show off my report to Mom, only to pout when I realized she wouldn't even be home until six p.m. I took a glance at my watch: it was only four. Eh, I could kill some time by wandering off towards the forest, I guess.

Every time I would grow bored, restless or even upset, I'd go to a little pond just outside of town to relax. It was just far enough away to miss the sounds of a bustling city but close enough to sprint home if need be. The familiar scene of the calm water and mossy rocks met my view shortly. I wasn't sure why it was so calming, nothing ever happened here except for the few Magikarp that would jump out and back into the water. I set my things down beside a fallen log and sighed happily, thinking only of how I was able to pass my classes—straight A's! I hadn't expected that, I expected at _least_ one B. My mind was so set on what I had done in school, I didn't even hear a growl until it was too late.

A blur of orange and black hit me from behind and jumped near the shore but spun around before it hit the water. I cried out from the sudden impact that left me on my face right in front of the log and looked up, spotting the smaller creature staring, not at me, but something above me. "You know, if you wanted to get in front of me, you could have at least gone around me!" I snapped and rubbed my head as I pushed myself up off of the ground and onto my knees to look up. The pokémon barked at the bird, growling again as the bird gave a shrill cry and dove towards the dog-like creature, spinning rapidly until it was a mere blur in the sky. I recognized it immediately: anyone can spot a Fearow using Drill Peck!

Quickly, I jumped out of the way of the battle, spotting the dog taking in a breath and let out a weak fire attack before it, too, jumped away. Unfortunately, it landed right beside me again. "What the hell? Go have your battle away from me!" I snapped, scrambling up to my feet. The Fearow paused, looking between us two and then looked behind as blonde girl in pigtails, a pink knee-length skirt and white blouse came running forward, looking disappointed when it saw the creature beside me. In her hand was a pokéball and in the other a pink rimmed hat. "Is that your Fearow?"

She nodded. "Yes, this is Rowan! Is that your Growlithe?" she replied, pointing to the still growling… Growlithe.

I shook my head and picked up my backpack. As soon as I did, the growls stopped and Growlithe looked up at me, as if startled I was trying to leave. "No, he's a wild one. I was trying to relax when it jumped on me from behind and your Fearow dove at it."

The girl giggled a bit. "I'm sorry, but you do look silly with the paw prints on the back of your shirt. Oh! Do you go to the university? I heard finals were today, how did you do?"

Finally I perked up a bit. Maybe the sudden battle wasn't such a bad thing after all. "I got straight A's. The tests were easy for me, I don't know about anyone else though."

She blinked a few times. "Oh! Are you Nimmy, then?"

I cursed. Only one person _ever_ called me 'Nimmy' and I still didn't like it! Who would want your real name shortened and then called in such a childish manner? "I'm assuming you're Jimmy's sister then? You're Mira, right? He talks about you sometimes. He calls you an overgrown baby who likes to wander away from home, too."

Mira huffed impatiently. "I am not an overgrown baby!"

"Well, don't shoot the messenger. Look, I gotta go home. See you around, kid. And tell Jimmy I say hi and don't kill him." I gave a weak wave and started to walk away. I heard Mira's giggling again, making me pause and turn around. "What's so funny—hey!" The Growlithe was following me, panting happily as it did so. "You know, I'm not your trainer, and I never will be so go with Mira, she's trying to catch you, not me."

"Grow!"

"Yea, yea, go 'grow' somewhere else." I waved towards it dismissively. But, I guess it's harder to try and get rid of a pokémon that really, _really_ wants to go with you. Growlithe followed me all the way to my house and after I wouldn't let it inside of it, it howled outside of the door for nearly a half an hour. When the howling mysteriously stopped, I paused my ps3 game (what? Skyrim is addicting!) and took off the headphones, thinking twice about going to the door to check and see if it was gone or not. As the door creaked open slowly, I saw the orange fluffball sleeping on the first step on the stairs. "Really? You're going to sleep in the way to the house? Why are you following me, anyway? Weirdo Growlithe." To the sound of my voice, its ears snapped towards me and it looked up, the tail starting to wag again. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Fine, fine, you're giving me puppy dog eyes, come on. I'll give you a bath at least."

Growlithe immediately took the chance and dashed inside, exploring the house with utter curiosity. "Growlithe!" it cried, spotting a closed door that it wanted in, which was my mother's bedroom.

"Oh, no, no, you aren't going in there. Come on, let's go in here, shall we?" I led it to the bathroom. Knowing full well that it was a fire pokémon, I grabbed a towel and put a little water on it. "Here, this won't hurt you at all." Soon I found myself fighting the dog to give it a basic sponge bath, and a good brushing. "Would you sit still?" I finally snapped and it promptly tackled into me and sat on my chest in victory. "Okay, you win, now get off!" I pushed it gently off and looked at it, using my free hand to scratch its head. "So why did you follow me, hmm?"

It didn't give a response, only panting happily and followed me into my bedroom. As I flopped onto my bed, it sniffed around the piles of things everywhere, nudging some dirty clothes in the corner of the room. I always wondered why pokémon would prefer dirty clothes over clean ones, maybe it's because dirty clothes have my scent on them while clean ones have no scent. At least Mom wouldn't kill me if she found out a Growlithe was inside of the house.

She would always bring in pokémon, and she still does, big or small, snake or cat, it didn't matter, if it was sick, she would somehow get them to trust her enough to bring them near the house so she could take care of it. Being a nurse had its perks, I guess. It jumped nearly five feet in the air when my cell phone started ringing, making me burst out laughing and I pulled it out of my pocket. It was growling again and I laughed again. "It's fine, it's okay. See? It's just a phone." I flipped it open and still chuckling a little, I answered with a simple, "Hello?"

"Why'd you tell Mira that I called her an overgrown baby?!" It was an angry Jimmy, well, more annoyed than angry. When I started laughing again at Growlithe's antics, he huffed through the phone. "Man, why are you laughing about this! It's not a laughing matter!"

"Dude, take a chill pill. I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at this Growlithe that followed me home." There was a slight silence.

"Come again?"

"A. Growlithe. Followed. Me. Home."

"Why?"

"I dunno. You ask it." I glanced at the growlithe again, watching it tilt its head back and forth curiously and sniff the phone. When it barked into the speaker, I could hear Jimmy's maniacal laugh. "So now the tables have turned. Why are you laughing?"

"Because you actually have a pokémon and it likes you! What'd you do to get it to like you this fast anyway?"

"I shoved it off of my chest and called it a weirdo."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Now unless you have any tips on how to get a random, wild Growlithe to stop following me, I'm gonna hang up before my minutes run out."

"No can do, bro. You're shit outta luck on that one. Have your mom help you or something. Or you could be like Quinn and start training!"

Now that caught my attention. "What? I thought Quinn was going to school!"

"She calls me more often than you, then. She said she is starting to train an Axew she caught the other day and that she enjoys it. She also says that you're a stuck-up asshole who thinks he's smarter than everyone else, by the way." Ahh, the joys of having older bitchy sisters. "Anyway, I'll let you go to your Growlithe. Who knows, you might keep it and it'll be a partner for the rest of your life!"

"Good bye, Jimmy." I hung up and stuffed the phone into my pocket.

The conversation with Jimmy had me wondering how often my sister called him more often than our own mother, but with a shrug, I looked back at the T.V. screen to continue my game. As I ran around a town increasing my skills and whatnot, I failed to notice that the Growlithe had mysteriously disappeared from my room. I only noticed when I felt it drop something at my feet. Somehow, it had gotten into the cupboards and had brought me a wrapped-up pokémon treat. "Really? _Really?_" I sighed and unwrapped it for him, giving the thing to him. As he chewed happily on the treat, I got up and headed for the kitchen to survey the damage.

"Oh, man. I am in _so_ much trouble," I muttered. The trash can was toppled over and it seemed as if the Growlithe had made itself a ladder using various boxes to get up to the pokémon food. "Call you Buster, that's for sure." Then I paused as I cleaned up the mess. If I was going to keep the fluffball, it had to have a name! I looked towards the entrance of the kitchen, seeing the Growlithe sitting there loyally. "I don't know why you followed me, why you like me so much or what you're doing here but you have to have a name."

The Growlithe tilted its head at me again.

"I'll call you Buster."

With a reassuring bark, Buster wagged his tail.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review/follow/favorite! :D  
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	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: I had a completely different outcome for this chapter but then I scrapped the entire thing and re-wrote it. I'm happy with the outcome. :D Enjoy!**

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**Chapter One**

"_The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."_

_-Eleanor Roosevelt_

The day I had met Buster was one of the busiest days of my life. Technically, I had my very first battle that I apparently lost (according to Jimmy), I received my first full set of straight-As in college, my mom came home unexpectedly early to see the disaster that was the kitchen (I was grounded for nearly a week because of it), but the best part was that I met the young Growlithe that quickly began to grow on me. At first my mother was skeptical about having such a young pokémon in the house, but soon the puppy grew on her as well. Buster was always going to be Buster, however, and he proved it by somehow managing to get into my mother's bedroom when I was in the shower and went through her dresser drawers.

Mom was in the kitchen and shouted at him for having one of her bras on his head but it seemed like he was laughing rather than being at all disappointed. It was all one big game for him. He would constantly get into things he shouldn't, making a mess of the kitchen at least once a week, but eventually he learned that wasn't a good thing to do, and neither was going through my mother's underwear drawer. Over the course of a month, he was always sitting by my feet, watching T.V. with me (he was very enthralled by watching anime with me too, he seemed to wonder how humans could jump so high in some of them), he even let me give him a full-blown bath. He was uncomfortable for most of it, but he seemed to enjoy the shallow water once I was done scrubbing the dirt out of his fur and I smiled at the shine in his coat even as he splashed me playfully. The good thing about this fire pokémon was that I didn't need to use a hairdryer to dry the coat, he did that himself.

After brushing him one last time, he was pleased with his clean self now, his tail wagging as he followed me into the kitchen to help my mom make dinner. It was then when I was dumbstruck to see a young woman sitting at the table, who had black hair and a strange pokémon sitting on her shoulder eating a treat. She turned her green eyes towards mine and didn't seem to be too pleased to see me just as much as me. Sensing the tension, Buster growled low in his throat and only stopped when I gently tapped his head. My mother didn't tell me that my sister was coming to town. For some odd reason, I wondered if Jimmy knew she was coming. "Hey, Nim," she greeted, giving a lazy wave. She had on a basic outfit today: a short-sleeved, black V-neck shirt and black cargo pants to match her darker personality. There was also a strange pokémon on her shoulder, looking at everything curiously. "Didn't think you'd be into pokémon training."

Huh? What on earth was Jimmy telling my sister? "Pokémon training? No! I still _definitely _want to be a researcher!"

She scoffed and even seemed to be a little disappointed. "Hmph. Too bad. You'd make a good trainer, Buster's fur is practically glowing with happiness and joy already. You've only had him for a month, right?"

Why was she talking so much? She never talked to me like this—with this much civility to me either. "Uhh… yea, sure. Why are you here?"

"Visiting Mom. Classes ended, duh." Oh, there's my sister. I thought for a moment she had been replaced by an 'evil' twin or something. She turned bored eyes to our mother as she set down a bowl of top ramen onto the table. I don't know why my sister loved that stuff so much, it was way too salty for my taste. The creature on her shoulder hopped off of her and onto the table to stare at me and Buster.

"Ax, axew!" it cried and I blinked. Quinn turned her head to Axew, a new light in them that I've never seen before. She simply adored this little creature, and she patted its head with a small smile. "Ew?"

"No, no, we can't battle him. We'd beat him, Axew."

Buster barked in defiance. I looked down at him and saw him go into a defensive stance. "Grow! Growlithe!"

"Axew!"

I inwardly groaned. I didn't need our two pokémon to become rivals and in the same house at the same time. "Buster, stop it. We aren't trainers." Buster looked up at me with an almost disappointed look on his face.

Quinn, however, had a different idea. Without any sound or warning, she grabbed my elbow and started pulling me outside. She was still taller than I was, even barefoot as she was currently and Buster and Axew followed us curiously. "You want to be a field researcher, right?" She didn't even look at me as I nodded. "School isn't the only thing you'll have to do you know. You'll have to learn how to battle. Wild pokémon can be very dangerous if you aren't careful."

"I'm sure Buster would be able to stop anything!" I objected, earning a happy bark.

She snorted. "Yea, right." She let go of my elbow when we were in the front yard. "Buster probably only knows three or four moves, and a Growlithe knows Ember when they are at a certain level—"

"Level six, I know. I looked it up." I grinned. "If I'm going to be a researcher, I have to do my own homework too, you know."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'll have a mock battle with you. If I win, you have to admit that you're a spoiled brat and if you win—"

"Then you have to admit that you're just a bitch." Quinn huffed in anger and I smiled. I knew exactly which buttons to press. "I've never had a battle, so you have to at least tell me what to do."

"Don't you ever watch T.V.? Just do what they do, it isn't that hard." I already knew she had something up her sleeve, that glint in her eye didn't fool me. She took an odd stance, which consisted of her spreading her legs a little and putting one hand in a fist and pointed straight at Buster. "Axew, Dragon Rage!"

Buster barked in surprise when the attack hit and I yelped, covering my face from the dust that suddenly rose to meet my face. The Growlithe snarled at Axew, his tail stiff and one of his ears was pointed towards me and the other was facing Axew.

"Don't just stand there, Nim! Give Buster an order!" Quinn shouted and frowned when I hesitated. "Axew, use Assurance!"

I knew that if this attack hit Buster, then he would surely be knocked out. Quickly I shouted, "Ember!" A weak wave of fire shot from Buster's mouth and blasted Axew away just in time. "Now get up there and use Bite!"

"Dragon Rage again, Axew!" Sure enough, Buster was slammed with full force in the air and hit the ground hard next to me. He didn't get up for a few moments before he staggered up onto all four of his paws. Quinn smiled and picked up Axew, telling how good of a job it did. Meanwhile, I was fretting over Buster and seeing if he was too badly hurt or not. He gave me a reassuring lick on the cheek and seemed to be smiling, despite the fact that we had lost the battle. "That Growlithe has potential, Nim. Not many fire attacks can leave Axew with a burn." I looked up, seeing Quinn approaching me. "And you fought better than most people on their first battle. I think you could become a trainer too, just go around Kanto and still become a pokémon researcher."

I frowned. Training, traveling and school all the same time? "I don't think that's what I'm cut out for."

"Heh, you never know." She ruffled my hair roughly and headed inside, leaving me to try and fix my hair. "But you are a spoiled brat." I huffed and Buster looked up at me as I stood up.

"Come on, Buster. Let's go to the pond, shall we?"

"Grow!"

As we made our way into the forest, I smiled as the happy Growlithe ran ahead of me and played with various things that were in our path, and found out that Weedle weren't meant to be smacked around unless he wanted to get stung. I received a small burn for laughing at him. As I went to my usual spot on the log, Buster gladly hopped up beside me, staring out at the water with me. We were silent the entire time, taking in the beauty of the forest surrounding us. I heard various pokémon crying out all around us, but it was normal, even the occasional Pidgey versus Spearow fights.

I wasn't necessarily upset that I lost my first battle, but I was slightly upset that my sister would even challenge me to a battle, knowing full well that she would win. That Axew of hers was strong too, and it had me thinking: how long has it been since she started pokémon training? Why didn't she tell Mom? Why does she talk so often with my best friend instead of me? Why was I getting jealous of him? And why couldn't my sister and I have a friendly relationship at the very best?

With a sigh, I fished through my pocket for Buster's pokéball, staring at it for a few minutes until I heard a bark. I looked up, seeing Buster staring at me curiously, but he was eyeing the red and white sphere in my hands with caution. "Don't worry, I'm not going to put you inside." I put it back in my pocket and stared at him for a bit. "But why did you come to me, hmm? Was it because Mira was trying to catch you instead?"

Buster only yawned, as expected.

I rolled my eyes. "You sleep too much."

He gave a groan and rested his head on my thigh and growled with pleasure as I scratched his ears.

"You can be too cute though." I pulled my hand away but he didn't move, deciding it best that it was nap time. As he slept, I stared at the water, watching the Magikarp and the various pokémon, mostly Rattata but a Pikachu here and there, that ran on the other side of the pond for some water and how some of the Pidgey were diving so suddenly to grab what they could find to eat. Sometimes I wish life could be like this—just the simplicity of watching life happen around me was always astounding in beautiful areas such as this. When I felt Buster lift his head and look behind himself, I blinked as I followed his gaze. "What's up, buddy?" His ears only twitched briefly towards me but he kept his eyes locked on something between the trees and bushes. "Ahh… Buster?"

I wasn't expecting the ferocious snarl that ripped out of his throat, I'd only heard it the first time we met when he was fighting Mira's Fearow. "Grow! Grow! Grow!" He repeated it several times, alarming me soon. Something he didn't like was there, and it was time to go. I wasn't one to stick around and see what was making him so upset.

"Buster, come on, let's go home."

That's when I noticed the squawks of Spearow had faded and the rustling of tree branches were gone. The forest felt empty of life, it felt like it was only me and Buster until I spotted a rather large purple snake slithering out. A woman stepped out from behind it, her arms across her chest and a scowl planted on her face. She seemed to be in her mid-twenties, with silver hair pulled back into a ponyta-tail and in a black uniform, with a matching radio on her waist. Her ice blue eyes were locked onto me, as if daring me to try and attack. She had more pokéballs on her waist, six of them to be exact, but on her thighs were various pockets and she held a hand out. "I don't feel like fighting, so why don't you just hand over that Growlithe's pokéball," she said simply and the Arbok beside her hissed.

I glared at her. "What are you, a hooligan trying to get everyone's pokémon?"

"Hooligan? I prefer the term 'thief' actually. It makes me sound more professional. Now hand it over to make it easy for yourself. I won't ask again."

This woman was as stubborn as a raging Tauros. "Hell no! Buster, use Ember on the ground in front of them!"

Buster obeyed and as the dust covered us, I waved for Buster to follow me and we ran in the opposite direction. To be honest, I was scared. That Arbok looked like it could take anything down, and we were just mere insects to it. I wasn't sure where we were running towards, but it was away from home, and away from Quinn. That woman would try and attack her as well. No matter how much I despised my sister, I didn't need her to be yelling at me for putting Axew in danger at all.

As we ran, I dared to look behind us. It surprised me to see that no one was there and I frowned, looking down at Buster as he seemed to be confused as well, looking around from side to side. "Do you think we lost that crazy woman?" The Growlithe shrugged, panting beside me.

"I wouldn't call myself crazy at all. Arbok, use Screech!"

Her voice was coming from above, but something loud and painful reached both of our ears. I could barely hear Buster whining as I tried to drown out the noise, stumbling on my feet as I covered my ears and try to remain upright as a splitting headache began to form. "Buster, Ember!"

There she was, I saw her jump out of the tree with Arbok just before the Ember hit them and with the Screech coming to a sudden halt, I took my hands off of my head. That's when I knew that we weren't going to be able to run away. We'd have to protect ourselves from this poacher. She glowered at us as I asked, "Why do you want Buster so much? I'm sure there are other Growlithe out there you can catch!" Truthfully, I wouldn't wish another pokémon to be caught by her, she didn't seem to care about the ones she had anyway.

She smirked. "Buster? He ran away from me a few months ago, actually. Never had a chance to get a pokéball on him before he fled. That was all the way up on Route 8. He's a powerful Growlithe, the rest that I had caught over there were weaklings, but I could still sell them for high prices." She laughed. "What? You don't like the idea of catching and selling pokémon? You a goody little two-shoes?"

"You could say that." I stuck my hand out. "Use Roar!"

Buster let out an ear-splitting cry and now it was the woman's turn to be startled enough to cover her ears as Arbok was forced back into its pokéball. "Why you little—" I heard her cry out in anger when she noticed that Buster and I had fled and were currently sprinting deeper into the forest.

I only stopped when I saw a truck parked off the side of the road. It was unoccupied, so I had to assume it was that woman's and I frowned, afraid to find out what was locked inside of the back. I gulped and Buster approached the back of the truck, barking at me. "I'm pretty sure we're in big enough trouble as it is," I muttered under my breath and made Buster use a steady stream of Ember to burn the padlock off. As soon as I opened the door, I regretted taking a deep breath. The smell was atrocious and made me gag, but that's not why I kept staring and remained frozen on the spot. There were pokémon of all shapes and sizes stuffed into little cages, and a few were in pokéballs on shelves as if on display.

So this was what poaching and hunting pokémon looked like. I had imagined it would at least smell better, but upon closer inspection, the pokémon inside didn't trust me and snapped at me if they could, glaring with hatred in their eyes. "Buster, can you please tell them that I'm going to free them?" I asked, looking around for a set of keys. I heard Buster bark a few times at the restless pokémon and a few cried out almost in giddy joy when they heard the young Growlithe. I reached the back of the truck and smiled when I pulled out a ring of keys sitting on a shelf and ran to the first of the cages. Most seemed to be wild but they at least sat still so I could take off muffles before they bolted out.

A long, snake-like pokémon in a cage was the last one, giving a faint sound as it watched me, as if it couldn't believe its eyes when I freed it and gently lifted it up to set it down. I gently patted its head as the large white part of its face briefly touched my hand. "There, now we need to find the owners of these pokémon, but I can give them to the police and they'll take care of it, I guess." There were only eight pokéballs, easy enough to stuff into my pockets. As soon as I did, I double-checked to make sure all of the pokémon were gone and Buster was nudging the Dratini in worry, looking up at me. I knelt beside it and noticed its eyes were closed, and it looked as if it had lost some color. "We'll take you to my mom, she can help fix you right up, I promise."

As soon as my feet hit the ground outside, I was met with hundreds of clear pins flying towards me. The Poison Sting would have hit us if it weren't for Buster's quick thinking and used Ember to burn away the attacks. The woman looked absolutely furious. "You little brat! Arbok, use Bite!"

"Buster, you use Bite too!" Arbok easily slid underneath Buster and attacked him from behind, grabbing hold of his side. Buster cried out with pain and yelped as Arbok threw him into a tree with such force, it knocked him out cold. "Buster! Buster, wake up!" I turned my head as the Arbok hissed at _me_ now. I felt paralyzed with fear, and as soon as I tried to take a step away from it, I tripped.

The woman stepped forward, smirking coldly at me again, but her eyes were still furious. "This is for making me lose the payload of a lifetime, kid! Arbok, use Acid!"

Suddenly the Dratini seemed to understand what was going on and its white nose gave off a brilliant shine and we were both protected from the poisonous attack that surged towards the two of us. I wasn't sure how the dragon had learned how to use Protect, but I did know that it just saved my life. It glared at the snake and soon the white ears on its head sparked and shot electricity towards Arbok, paralyzing it. I was surprised when it suddenly sped quickly towards it and slammed itself into the pokémon, sending it flying into another tree. ExtremeSpeed, Thunder Wave and Protect? It was also done in less than ten seconds, by the way. There was something to this Dratini that I didn't understand and it was clear that the woman didn't, either.

She seemed to pause as she returned Arbok, frowning. "You have potential, kid. You don't even know that pokémon and already it trusts you like you've known it for years." She tossed another pokéball out, releasing a Haunter. "But two can play the egg moves game: Haunter, use Ice Punch!"

"ExtremeSpeed!" Dratini tried throwing itself into Haunter but it went right through, and yelped in pain as the ice attack hit it from behind. Weakened from before, it hit the ground and didn't get up. "Buster! Dratini!"

I tried to grab the two but the woman stepped in front of me with a solid kick to my chin. I shouted something and hit the ground as well. "Use Lick!" As soon as the Haunter licked my face, I felt my body stiffen—I couldn't move a muscle! At first, I was able to roll off of my stomach and sit up against the tire of the truck but that was where I stayed and my body refused to obey my commands. The woman gave a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose with annoyance as she turned towards me now. "You know, kid, this could have gone a lot quicker and easier if you had just done what I told you in the first place." She went to me and lifted my chin up so I was forced to look in her eyes. "Now I'll have to get rid of you to get rid of the evidence. Oh, and look at these pockets stuffed full of pokéballs. I'll take those back, thank you." She grabbed the eight pokéballs in my pocket, and helpless, I watched as she put them into one of the many pockets on her pants. "And I would assume that this is… Buster's pokéball." She took the ninth one from my pocket and smiled, approaching the fallen Growlithe soon.

_Stupid body—move, damn it! Move unless you want to die! You have to save Buster!_ I was shouting to myself mentally, screaming to get up, to at least stand and fight again. "S—stop!" I managed to shout at her and the woman did so, turning towards me with a smirk. "Don't… touch… him…"

"So you can still talk, hmm? It's not like you can do anything, you're stuck there as the paralysis keeps you trapped in your own body." She walked towards me again and gave me a nice, firm kick in my stomach. All I could do was groan from the pain. "That's for fighting back, too." She grabbed the front of my shirt and with unbelievable strength, she lifted me up off of the ground, pinned me to the truck wall and backhanded my face. "That's just because I felt like it." She laughed as she dropped me, but it was quickly cut off with a cry of pain when an Ember hit her back. Buster was awake and furious, staring at her with a ferocity of a feral pokémon. "So you want to have another go? Fine. Haunter, Night Shade!"

Before Haunter could carry out the attack, a strong reddish blast came from the Dratini, who was awake as well. By now the paralysis was starting to wear off, and I saw it wasn't Dratini or Buster that had finally defeated the over powered Haunter: it was a strange red and black pokémon that had used Faint Attack. "That's for touching my brother. _No one touches him but me!"_ shouted a very familiar voice.

The woman cursed and threw out a third pokéball, releasing a Charizard that roared at them immediately. "Burn this place to the ground, Charizard!" she shouted.

Quinn threw another pokéball. "Samurott, use Hydro Pump!" Flamethrower met Hydro Pump and the result was a very hot steam that exploded in mid-air. When the smoke was gone, the woman and Charizard had disappeared. My sister soon turned towards me as I struggled to move, helping me sit up and shoved a berry into my mouth. "Eat it, it'll get rid of the paralysis." She was worried, and even though she would never admit it, it was clear in her eyes she was scared. "Nim, what the hell were you thinking?"

I didn't reply, unable to when my mouth was full of berry. She stayed beside me as I shook uncontrollably afterwards, and vomited once. She was trying to soothe me through the entire thing, becoming the elder big sister that I really did love, the overprotective one that would always get rid of the monsters from under the bed for me when I was little. "J-just wanted to s-save them," I finally managed to stutter quietly and she frowned, helping me lay down on my back. Buster was right beside me and the Dratini was as well, looking just as worried.

She hesitated, then smiled a little bit. "Well, you saved them. Each and every single one of them—"

"Eight."

She blinked, confused. "Excuse me?"

Arceus, it was hard to talk. Plus, it wouldn't move the way I wanted to so I tried saying, "She had e-eight pokémon. S-she took them when I couldn't move. Including Buster's p-pokéball."

It seemed as if Quinn understood me, nodding. "Well, we can get rid of Buster's ID on that pokéball remotely, but right now, let's get you home, can you stand?" After the difficult task of getting up onto my feet, she put me onto her Samurott's back, letting me recover fully all the way home. The Dratini was following us as well, slithering beside Buster quickly. I already knew that we would have to explain a lot to Mom when we got through the door, I could already tell that there was a bruise forming on my cheek and jaw, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was one on my chest, too.

I was able to walk by myself by the time we reached our neighborhood, and the short walk from the corner to the house drained me of all my energy, and Quinn was there again to help me through the door and grunting from effort, onto the couch. Mom shouted something to us and rushed beside me. "What happened? Nim? Nim, are you okay?"

"Juuuust peachy," I replied, trying to catch my breath.

Quinn hesitated. "A Haunter used Lick and paralyzed him. He'll be fine by the morning." She looked outside, then back down to Mom. "Mom, can we speak alone?" Mom was trying to fret over me but noticing the seriousness in my sister's eyes, she looked at me, patted my shoulder and kissed my head before following Quinn into the kitchen.

As soon as they were gone, Buster hopped up onto the couch beside my feet and the Dratini slithered up right beside me and the back of the couch. "You want to stay with me too, huh?" I muttered to the dragon and it beamed, nodding.

"Tini!" It was a beautiful pokémon, staring at me with big, black eyes and it rested its head on my chest comfortably.

"Are you a boy?" The Dratini fiercely shook it's—_her_—head. I chuckled, winced, and nodded. "Then you need a name. Luda. I like that name…" I felt my eyes close as exhaustion took over and I was comfortable with the two pokémon sleeping with me on the most comfortable couch in the entire world.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! Yes, I named the Dratini from a character in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Nimmy likes playing video games too ;) Don't forget to review/follow/favorite, mmk?**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Reviews are loverly :)**

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**Chapter Two**

"_You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."_

_-Dr. Seuss_

For some reason, I woke up in my bed. I don't know how I got there, but I do know that I felt much better now than I did when I had fallen asleep last night even though I felt sore and a little stiff. Luda and Buster were on the end of the bed, fast asleep, and Luda was curled around the young Growlithe happily. There were two pokéballs sitting on my desk as well and groggy me decided to get up. To put it simple, I landed face-first into a pile of books that were stacked beside my bed. It startled both pokémon awake but while Luda looked worried, Buster seemed to be laughing at me. "Oh, shut up, Buster," I mumbled and looked at the pokéballs, seeing a note below them. "'These are Luda and Buster's pokéballs. You're welcome.'" I sighed, smiling when I saw Quinn's name at the bottom of the post-it-note.

Luda didn't seem to mind the pokéball at all, and as I put the two pokéballs into my pocket, I headed into the living room, followed by Buster. Mom was home, I wasn't sure why, but she didn't look happy and neither did Quinn. I opened my mouth to greet them but Quinn got there first. "I'm moving both of you to Pallet Town," my sister declared, petting Axew's head.

Say what? I froze for a moment in front of the recliner I was about to sit in, believing she was only joking. "Moving us?" I finally sat down, staring at her. "What do you mean moving us?"

"You know how I told you that I was going to school?" I nodded. "It's was basically just training, all of those years I was training and going on missions with Interpol and learning how—"

"Wait, wait, I call time-out." I put my hands together in a "T" shape and ignored Quinn's scowl. "Interpol? You're an officer? And you go on missions? Like what a spy does? Go on missions around the world and blow stuff up kind of stuff?" I laughed but when I realized I was the only one, I gulped loudly. "Seriously?"

She sighed. "Yes, seriously. But not so much of the blowing up stuff part. Nim, you got yourself into some deep shit here. I was sent here on some R&R before going to my next mission, and you got caught up in it." I was silent. What the hell was she talking about? "They know what you look like, they know what pokémon you have and now they want to kill you for stopping one of their deliveries."

"Who's 'they' anyway?"

"They call themselves The Mafia, and now—"

"—that's an original name—"

She continued as if she didn't hear my interruption. "—they're in Kanto, I guess this is where my next assignment is." She hesitated. "That's why I have to move you both. To keep you both safe, you and Mom."

I frowned at her and looked at Mom, who was silent as she seemed to take this information in as well, but she clearly wasn't as objective as I was. "You can't just move me out of the blue!" I finally snapped and Buster seemed to frown at my tone while my sister frowned at me immediately. "This is my home! How am I ever going to be a researcher if I move to fucking _Pallet Town?_ There's nothing there except farmland!"

She was silent for a moment even though Mom said towards me (and that I pointedly ignored), "Watch your language!"

My sister narrowed her eyes at me. "I can move you and I will! That is final!"

"'Final' my ass!" I got up, ready to stomp back to my room when my sister stopped me again.

"Do you know what I was doing when I found you, Nim? I was looking for you!" That stopped me and I finally looked at her again. "You were gone longer than you should have been and I'm glad I looked for you. I know where you like to be when you're stressed or whatever, and when you weren't there and there were fresh signs of a battle, I knew you were in trouble. All I had to do was follow your tracks. I don't know how you defeated an Arbok with only Buster and Luda, but that Haunter obviously did the trick and knocked them both right out then turned on you. Pokémon Hunters are not afraid to attack and kill the trainer, you are no exception." She paused and let it finally sink into me as I stumbled back into the reclining chair. "When I saw you on the ground and paralyzed, I was scared that she would kill you, that I'd lose my baby brother if I didn't hurry. Someone like that would have made you suffer, Pawniard only barely took out that Haunter in time, and if I had been a second too late, she could have put you to sleep and let it use Dream Eater until you died." She sighed as she paused to take a breath. "That is why I absolutely _have_ to move you both."

I still didn't like the thought of moving away from my home of seventeen years. Quinn was right though, and whoever these people were they weren't afraid to kill people. Hell, I could have died yesterday if she hadn't come! "In Pallet Town, there is a program designed specifically for Field Researchers that I've signed you up for starting in September," Mom said to me, taking my hand gently.

My sister nodded. "You're going to be safe there, trust me."

I was frowning silently while Buster nudged my hand to get me to pet him. He knew when I was upset, it wasn't that hard to spot, really. "Can… can I at least tell Jimmy that I'll be moving?" I finally asked.

"No. You can tell him you're going away for school this year, and you won't be back until at least June." She leaned forward. "Right now, Nim, you're both under my protection. I didn't just catch Pawniard and Samurott, they've been with me since the beginning. Pawniard is about ready to evolve, but I did just recently catch Axew, that much is the truth. Besides, I didn't become an officer for nothing. I have people I need to protect."

Needed to protect huh? I nodded again and got up, going to my room silently. I heard Buster whine softly behind me and follow me as I closed my bedroom door. As I sat down on the floor, the young Growlithe looked at me and licked my cheek, trying to comfort me. "I'm okay, Buster," I lied and tried to smile. It was clear that he could see right through it and nudged my arm to try and get me to pet him.

I don't know how, but Buster has always been able to put a real smile on my face no matter what the situation. He has this affect on me, I guess. He is very much in tune with my feelings, and he knows who I like and who I don't like, such as Quinn and Jimmy. He likes Jimmy, but when it came to Quinn he often growled at her. I still thought she was the worst big sister sometimes, but with recent events, my beliefs were slowly beginning to change. The fact that I couldn't even tell my best friend that I made dangerous people mad upset me, but when I thought about what Quinn told me, it was for the best. Knowing Jimmy, he'd run out and help me and get himself into trouble too so that not only would Quinn have to watch Mom and I, she'd have to keep an eye on Jimmy and his family, too.

I pulled out my cell phone, flipping it open and started texting my best friend, frowning as I read my short, simple message of, _Going away for school this yr. Bbl next yr._ I flipped it closed. It wasn't technically a lie, I was going to go to this program thing Mom signed me up for, and I was going to be away, but for the true reason, I had to respect Quinn's wishes and remain quiet on this one.

It wasn't even a minute when I received a reply from him. _Why cant you go back to vuc.? :(_

_Mom says so. Ill talk about it later._ I shut it again and stuffed it into my pocket to start packing my things, at the very least my video games and clothes. I had mostly everything already packed within two hours, stuff that I was going to bring right away, at least. Quinn told me to only bring necessities but when she spotted me with my video games, she scowled at me and rolled her eyes when I stared at her and continued to pack. Buster barked happily, wagging his tail when I zipped up the last of my suitcases, looking at my bed and furniture, books and other school stuff. For some reason, I knew I would miss it all, especially coming into my own room to do whatever it is I wanted. I stood up and wiped by brow, dragging the three suitcases into the living room. Mom was just getting done herself but with her five luggage packs, I smiled as Quinn rubbed her head in a little exasperation but shook her head, saying that she was glad they had two cars.

As I packed everything into the cars, I heard feet running towards us from the sidewalk and after setting the last suitcase into the trunk of Mom's car, I yelped when hands grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. Dirty blond hair was everywhere and my best friend was wearing a long-sleeved, loose white shirt and sweats as if he was just getting ready for bed (at six p.m.? Maybe he was just getting ready so he could play video games 'till he really goes to bed) when he bolted out of the house. "You're _moving_? You said you were just going to a different school!" Jimmy's vibrant blue eyes watched me, clearly upset. "You and your mom and your sister!"

Quinn appeared, crossing her arms across her chest. "It's for the best, the school he's going to requires family to go with him." Yea right. That's a solid lie right there, but thankfully Jimmy said nothing, or maybe he noticed and didn't say anything about it. "We have to get going if we want to get there in time, so go home, Jim."

"But—"

I put hand on his shoulder, smiling. "We'll be back soon, I promise. Besides, this school has an outdoor program that I'm going into. It'll be nice to not sit in a classroom all year long."

"That's called a vocational school."

"That also requires the pre-reqs that I just took at the university." Jimmy frowned but he sighed. "So I'll be back in maybe early June, it won't be that long."

Buster barked as if to reassure him, wagging his tail once. "Grow!"

"Okay, okay, fine. But don't forget to visit me on holidays or whatever, got it?" He stepped away as I closed the trunk door. He turned his head to look at Quinn. He was a good head taller than she was, who was taller than I was by a few inches. "You just keep an eye on this troublemaker." He jerked a thumb in my direction. "Teachers had a hard time trying to get him to stay quiet all year in high school."

"Jimmy!"

"Will do." She went into her car, waiting for Jimmy to get out of the way before leading the way down the street.

Jimmy smiled at me, patting my back. "See you later, then. Just don't brag about getting straight A's again. For a guy that hates school, you're awfully good at it. Oh, and Mira says good luck too." I chuckled and nodded, climbing into the passenger seat of my Mom's car and soon we drove away as Jimmy waved at us.

I leaned against the seat as we drove then looked behind as Buster placed his head outside the back window, panting so that his tongue was flying with the wind along with his fur. I laughed and mom gave a chuckle as she noticed as well. "It's your first car ride, huh?" I asked and he barked, his tail wagging. I gave another smile and yawned.

I stared outside the window as Viridian City changed into the forest, going around the thickest parts. I still don't understand why we couldn't just drive straight through, but Mom was following Quinn's dark blue sedan, and I suppose she didn't know about the shorter routes or she was being overly cautious. I glanced at the backseat as Buster gave a loud yawn and looked up at me as I pulled out Luda's pokéball, letting her in the backseat with him. "There, now you won't be so bored."

"Dra?" Luda looked around curiously, looking out the window, fascinated by the zooming trees. "Tini! Tini!"

I smiled as she and Buster started talking to each other but when it grew silent, I had to look at them again. With Luda curled around the puppy pokémon, it was becoming a common sight to see the two sleeping like that and I chuckled again, looking ahead as well. "How long will it take to reach Pallet Town?"

Mom thought for a moment. "I'd say another hour or so. We're almost there, you can tell by the Tauros smell." She laughed as I winced in disgust. "What? You don't like it?"

"Ew! No!" She laughed again as I rolled my eyes at my mother. An hour and a half passed and finally I saw the rolling hills of Pallet Town with only two or three houses in view.

Oh, dear, I was going to be oh so very bored, wasn't I?

Honestly, Pallet Town was beautiful, even at night. Everything was so _green_ too! There were scattered trees here and there, but most of the trees were near the eastern border of the sleepy little town, where I was sure I'd find another 'spot' to go to somewhere in there. We kept driving until we reached a house on the third hill we reached. It was a large blue and white two-story home where Quinn pulled up into. The lights were off and the shutters were closed but it looked fairly new. I stared at it for a long while.

My sister had this kind of money to move us here? I began to wonder how much an Interpol officer made each month.

I climbed out of the car and opened the backseat. "Luda, Buster, wake up. We're here." I gently shook them and Luda groaned before opening her eyes while Buster stretched and hopped out. Once the two pokémon were out of the car, I closed the door and Quinn looked at our mother, giving a smile. "So… I take it this is our new house?"

She nodded. "Yes. It is. I own it completely, so if you don't like the inside or outside or whatever, you can change the color." She took out a set of keys and opened the door, turning on a light.

Dear Arceus, the inside was even bigger than the outside! The living room alone was nearly twice the size of my old bedroom, plus everything was hardwood, and the stairs had a little closet on the side. The kitchen had a counter in the middle of it for cutting things, or for use as a bar table, and had marble countertops and beautiful cabinets. The washer and dryer were in their own little room off to the side of the kitchen, it wasn't much but the machines looked brand new as well, and the water heater was beside the washer itself. The backyard didn't have a fence, but who needed one when there was no one else out here?

We went upstairs next and my room was the size of a freaking football field, I swear! It had a full-sized bed that Luda immediately climbed into and Buster decided to jump on and promptly tackled into me as soon as I got too close. Mom couldn't help but to laugh hard at me as I cried out and landed on my stomach with Buster sitting triumphantly on my back while Quinn just rolled her eyes at us and showed Mom her room. As they left, I lifted my head. It was hardwood up here as well, and although it would be cold during winter, I didn't care. It was an amazing upgrade from my previous house, and I didn't have to worry about ever vacuuming again.

I pushed Buster off and went to get our things with the puppy following me, dragging three suitcases at once. I still don't understand why Mom or Quinn couldn't help me, but I guess 'being a girl' was their perfect excuse to get out of the hard work. After delivering Mom's items to her room, I went out into the hall and looked up at Quinn, who was stretching, looking exhausted. "Why are you so tired? You didn't do any of the heavy lifting." Buster barked at her to reassure my point.

"I've been driving all day, that's why. Tomorrow, I have to get up early and go back to Unova to report this." She looked at me. "The program starts the day after tomorrow at the new lab up the street. It's easy to find, just keep following the road. Oh, and you can bring Luda and Buster if you want, but they need to either be in their pokéballs or very quiet."

"Yea, yea, I know. Mom told me this on the way." I had heard the lecture from her already, about the various different rules and that we would meet once a month in the laboratory to turn in assignments and if we were away for longer than that, to just send it in through e-mail or something similar. You were allowed to have pokémon of course, but no battling near the lab, basic things like that. I was sure I'd hear the rest of the rules the day after tomorrow.

Quinn hesitated before she headed for the extra room. "Just be careful, Nim. I can't come and help you if you get into trouble, got it?"

I smiled. "That's why I just have to train Buster and Luda. Before long, they'll be the two most powerful pokémon ever!" My sister actually smiled at me and nodded, closing the bedroom door behind her. Buster looked up at me and followed me into my new room. The first spot he took was the edge of the bed, laying down to watch me unpack and put everything away, set up my video games and television.

As I sat down in the bed and looked at my phone, there was a text message from Jimmy asking if we made it yet and after replying that we did and that I was going to bed, I turned it off and yawned. Twelve a.m. was a reasonable time I guess. Usually, I'd be conked out by now, but I suppose the excitement of moving got me to enjoy this little town already.

I heard Quinn moving around later on and after glancing at the clock, it said it was only five-twelve a.m. I groaned quietly to myself and rolled onto my stomach, closing my eyes again. I heard the door open a bit and someone walking around but soon closed it and the footsteps walking down the stairs. I would read whatever Quinn put down later on when I really woke up later that day. I don't know how much longer I slept for but I do know that Buster was licking my face with as much slobber as he could muster to wake me up. "Ugh! Buster!" I wiped my face with a kleenex, scowling as the pokémon barked his morning greeting and waited for me patiently to open the door. Luda was still asleep on the bed and she stirred a little when I got up to obey the demanding puppy's wishes.

After letting him out, I went to the desk, smiling at the post-it note, Quinn's trademark one sentence note was there with: "I'll text you later. –Quinn." I went downstairs after I woke Luda up and was greeted by the smell of bacon. What is it with bacon that makes it smell and taste so damn good? "What time did Quinn leave yesterday?" I asked and went to the stool in the kitchen to watch Mom flip the bacon. "I heard her come into my room this morning and left a _very_ detailed note," I added sarcastically.

"She left about six in the morning. She took the first flight out of Pallet Town to Nimbasa City, I believe. She won't get there until maybe tomorrow morning, the time change will be rough, but I'm sure she's used to it by now."

I hesitated. "Why didn't you tell me that she was training to be an officer?"

"She asked me not to, that's all. You have to ask her for her reasons." She set a plate in front of me unexpectedly, full of eggs, bacon and toast. "Now eat up, I am going to work at the new lab today, they have need of a pokémon nurse, and that's where I come in."

I looked up at her. "You have a new job? Are you staying here permanently then?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure yet, but this is a much nicer house than before, and a much better neighborhood." She sighed before she sat down beside me. "Well, you'll be gone most of the time anyway, the program you're in will be away from the city most times, and the partner you have might be a good one, or a bad one, but either way, you'll be much safer with someone else, and I'm very happy you won't be alone."

Ah, yes. I forgot. I'd be traveling with someone else that enlisted into the program. I also heard that it isn't a cheap one either, so whoever was partnering up with me, I was sure that they'd be a snobby know-it-all. Buster tilted his head at me from his own breakfast and made a sound. I chuckled and tossed him a piece of bacon to which he instantly inhaled. Luda scolded him for eating it so quickly but he snorted at her and finished eating his breakfast. I shook my head at them and after breakfast, recalled Luda and headed outside with Buster to explore the town.

Pallet Town had much cooler weather compared to Viridian City, since it was near the ocean and as soon as I found out there _was_ an ocean, I dashed for it instantly. Buster was in awe, so I assumed he'd never seen an ocean before in his life but of course, I hadn't seen an ocean this pretty ever! There were cliffs on either side of the beach, but it was empty of people with the occasional Krabby walking around with little bubbles forming around their mouths. I even told Buster not to go near one but as soon as he sniffed one, the Krabby pinched his nose and ran away into the ocean water despite the young Growlithe's angry barks. He whined up at me despite me laughing and taking care of him as I sprayed a little potion on his nose.

After spending nearly an hour just playing around on the beach, I decided to head up to explore the forest, with Buster passing me excitedly to chase a wandering Caterpie. At least those can't poison Buster, but it could use String Shot. Buster dodged it and I grinned, going behind it. "Buster, use Ember!" It couldn't hurt to train a little. The Caterpie stood no chance against the fire move and as soon as it was out, Buster barked proudly as it ran away. "We aren't fighters though, we don't need to go after little Caterpie in the forest."

Buster looked up at me with a disappointed look.

With those puppy-dog eyes he was giving me, it was hard to try and say that we weren't going to train but I finally gave in and as soon as he sensed it, his tail began to wag. "Fine, fine, let's go." I released Luda as well after a while, and the two pokémon loved battling the random bugs and birds out there for the rest of the day. To them, it was absolutely fun and enjoyable to show off their skills to me and for some reason, I couldn't help to think that this was why the Mafia were after the two of them. They were each graceful in their own ways, Luda was very quick while Buster had more attack and most of the time, they were able to hit the opposing pokémon once and they were out cold.

As we took a break, I smiled and knelt beside them, patting both of their heads happily. "You two are definitely something, that's for sure."

Buster's happy growl and Luda's pleased sound were my delightful responses. As we made our way back for the house, I watched the two now very excited pokémon race each other back to the house, each trying to get there first. I laughed, running after them and losing considerably.

Now I wish that it was only us three against the world.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please favorite/follow/review!  
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	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Again, reviews are the best ever. Thoughts, stuff like that. Don't forget about the favorite and following thing too, that's awesome as well :P.**

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**Chapter Three**

"_There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."_

_-Paulo Coelho_

September first, the day I started classes. It came faster than I could blink, really. I knew that I was a little bit anxious to get to the laboratory, plus Mom had already left for work an hour ago. She was more than excited to start her new job, I think, and I also think that she really did love Pallet Town already. It was quiet all the time, unlike the constant sirens going off in Viridian City, and it was much cleaner and the air actually smelled good. I'm not really sure what Buster or Luda thought, but the two seemed just as happy as they were if we were still living in Viridian.

I turned towards the two pokémon, showing off the uniform. "So, how do I look?" I asked and Buster yawned while Luda stared in utter curiosity. It was pretty much the same as it was back at Viridian City University, with khaki pants or slacks and a white dress shirt with a tie, and nice shoes for classroom days but today, they called for either hiking boots or tennis shoes. The days when we were on the field, we would be allowed to wear whatever we wanted but to turn in assignments and to call the teacher through video phone, we would have to wear our uniform. I grabbed a notepad and a pen, then recalled Luda to her pokéball and stuffed it into my pocket. "Ready, Buster?"

The puppy pokémon nodded, panting joyfully. "Growlithe grow!" he replied and jumped off of the bed to follow me outside.

The laboratory at the top of the hill was the most distinct building I'd ever seen. It was simple, but the dim orange paint job it had on the outside topped with a satellite at the top gave away that it was even a lab. The residents of Pallet Town had learned that there were new neighbors in town and I'd been approached by several of the adults, asking questions such as where I was from, why I moved here, and hoped that I liked it and stuff like that. Mom hadn't bothered to drive since it was just up the road, telling me that it was good for me to walk to the lab every day—and it seemed like I wasn't the only one in this program.

There were five other people around my age wearing the same uniform as me that seemed to come right out of the university's uniform code and it reminded me of my time at the college even if it was just for the summer. I stopped, taking a good look at the oddball of a group.

There were two girls out of all six of us, the first had wavy blond locks that nearly reached her hips and tall blue duck stood beside her, reaching just above her shoulders. Instead of slacks, she had opted to wear a short tan skirt and flats instead of hiking boots. I kept thinking to myself, _Who in their right mind would opt practicality for fashion? Doesn't she know that we're going to be outside today?_

The second girl was a pretty brunette, cut just above her shoulders and had capris and her own hiking boots and a Pikachu sitting on her shoulder. She turned hazel eyes towards Buster and I and offered a smile then looked away again, going back to scratching the Pikachu's head.

One of the boys was sitting down and had _very_ long hair that was tied in a simple tail and his bangs were constantly being pushed behind his ears irritably. He had chosen to lean against a black and silver pokémon, one that I had never seen before. He was thin and wore simple brown shoes as the wolf-like pokémon yawned as it stared around at the other humans and pokémon joining them. He turned dark blue eyes towards me when he heard me but said nothing, going back to staring at the door with impatience.

The second was the complete opposite of the first, with his hair cut military-style and had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and was muscular, no doubt someone who loved the gym a little too much. He had opted not to wear a tie at all, though I was pretty sure it was stuffed into his pocket and a larger version of a Pidgey sat on his shoulder, staring at me and Buster as we approached the group.

The last boy seemed to be the youngest of all of us, he looked awkward in the slacks and dress shirt, but he had a Meowth sitting beside his feet just as loyally as Buster sat beside mine. He had brown hair as well, though it was longer than the second man's, but much shorter than the first. He was the only one that greeted me with a small, "Hello."

I nodded at him in greeting and Buster followed me towards the back of the group. I figured this would be all of us since an older man in a white lab coat came out, smiling cheerfully at us with a clipboard tucked underneath his arm. His hair was in an official horseshoe shape and was completely white along with his eyebrows and trimmed beard and mustache. He had glasses, but they were clipped to a necklace and hanging on his chest. "So this is everyone? Good, good. Have you gotten yourselves acquainted with each other?" When silence met him, he laughed. "Fine, then we'll just have to do an icebreaker. You, young lady with the Golduck, you may start first."

The blonde girl nodded and looked at the rest of us. "I'm Marian Shelly. From Celadon City and I'm nineteen. This is Kaz, my Golduck." The Golduck simply nodded at us silently.

The long haired male was up next. "This is my Mightyena, Jenny. I'm Daniel Lockheart. Twenty. From Petalburg City, Hoenn." Jenny barked at us in her own greeting, her tail wagging once.

"Well you've come a long way," the scientist commented and looked at the other girl. "And you?"

"I'm Karen Michaels, I'm seventeen and this is my Pikachu, Pipa. We're from here, we live right over there, actually." She pointed to a two story house not too far away.

It was my turn, I guess. "I'm Nimondor, everyone calls me Nim though, and I'm also seventeen. We just moved here from Viridian City two days ago. This is my Growlithe, Buster."

"Grow!" Buster puffed his chest out proudly, then panted happily, looking up at me as I scratched his head.

Karen giggled, and I knew immediately afterwards that she loved pokémon just as much as I did.

The muscle-man shrugged. "I'm Cory Thrands, twenty-one and I'm from Pewter City. This is my Pidgeotto, Gepetto."

Finally, the last boy smiled at all of us. "And I'm Shawn Day, and I'm fourteen. I'm also from Viridian City, and this is Meowth."

Six very different people, I suppose. There's me being, well, me, a girl who seemed to be all high and mighty, an overly happy one, a super serious guy like Quinn, a man who names his pokémon after a fictional toy maker, and a kid who seems as awkward as hell. This should be fun. "Now that we all know each other, I am Professor Bougainvillea. You can just call me Professor to save the mouthful," he added at some of our jaws that dropped at the complicated name. Karen even tried saying it but failed miserably. "Let's go inside and I will show you around, where we will be for classroom days, and then give all of you your first assignment and we'll head out from there."

He showed us around the small lab, from the large computer room to the nursery where my mom was, and like all mothers did, she decided to embarrass me in front of everyone else (ignoring me as I turned a deep shade of red that matched my hair) but she also talked about the eggs they were beginning to raise like she had been here for years. The three eggs had never been discovered before, and she was in charge of ensuring that they would hatch properly and healthy. The last room we entered was a room with one long table and eight chairs, a meeting room. "Now then," Professor said as he started writing on a whiteboard. "I will pick your names randomly, and whoever I partner you up with will be your partner for this assignment. All partners will change from time to time, and by June next year, you should all know each other very well for the final."

He turned back to the whiteboard. "As you all know, pokéballs are recent inventions, only ten years or so old but already they've become a part of our daily lifestyle to carry our pokémon around. What's more is that they've come up with ways to let it shrink and grow even with pokémon inside of them. But you should all know this." All of us nodded as he wrote down three different places on the board: Seafoam Islands, Fuchsia City and then Pewter City. He capped the marker and turned back towards us and clasped his hands behind him. "Who here has more than one pokémon?" Marian and I were the only ones who raised our hands. "Good, that's very good. Do either of you have a preferred type?"

"I have two preferences, water and grass," Marian replied immediately, smiling proudly. "I have Kaz here and Bella, my Bellossom."

"I don't have a favorite type; pokémon are pokémon, they are themselves," I replied, earning an eyebrow raise from Professor and four heads—minus Daniel, who was listening with his eyes closed—turning in my direction. I kind of wish I didn't say that, but it really was the truth!

"Tell me, where did you hear that?" he asked curiously.

"Actually, I learned from Buster and Luda." The others also looked confused. How would they understand what I felt pokémon were? At first I wasn't sure how to explain it and I took a deep breath, looking at Professor Bougainvillea. "When I found them, I just knew that they each had their own personalities. Luda is more of a conserved and quiet type while Buster is an outrageously hyperactive and loud one." When I said his name, Buster looked up at me, tilting his head and barked expectantly, knowing I was talking about him. To quiet him down, I pet his head. "Each pokémon and their type are graceful and powerful in their own way."

"And why do you want to become a researcher, Nim?"

"Because I want to find out how many pokémon there are in the world, and why some behave differently when they're the same species. I've heard other Growlithe are timid, and some are angry, or just calm. The instincts of all pokémon are different and I'm sure that every single pokémon has their own thoughts they want to express to humans."

The other students were quiet before Professor started laughing. "That's a good answer, my boy! I think you will make a fine researcher some day. Can anyone else top that?"

Daniel sat up a little. "I want to discover the legends, from Moltres to Arceus, I know they're real, and every historical piece of information confirms that they are too," he replied and Professor nodded again.

Karen wanted to study pokémon behavior just like me, while Shawn wanted to research evolution, and Cory with pokémon habitats; Marian just wanted to see how many other water pokémon lived in oceans and lakes, how deep some of them could descend and how grass pokémon can survive in the desert. Professor nodded at each of us, smiling. "Well now that I have an idea of what everyone wants to study, I can partner you up. Daniel and Shawn, you two will be going to the Seafoam Islands, I hear there are many pokémon there that are far beyond the normal strength of their evolutionary line and there are rumors that an Articuno resides there. I want you to both to look into this, study what is going on and how those pokémon are getting strong. Bring extra coats, it gets cold over there."

Shawn, Meowth, Daniel and Jenny all left promptly. "Cory and Marian, you two are going to go to Fuchsia City. There are reports of an alarming increase of poison type pokémon and they are even starting to go to the beach. Find the cause and report back to me as soon as you can, got it?"

That left Karen and I. I wasn't disappointed at all, I was hoping I would be traveling with her, and when we were alone, Professor Bougainvillea turned to us both with a kind smile and a young spark in his old brown eyes. "As for you two, I want you both to do something different."

"Different? What kind of different?" Karen asked before I could, both of us were confused. Whatever 'different' was, I was sure it wouldn't be easy.

He nodded. "Different as in I want you two to train the pokémon that will be hatching soon. I want to see someone raise a pokémon from the egg into its final evolutionary form. Your assignment will take time, maybe even longer than the entire program, but you two seem to be very promising students."

"But why do you want us to raise them? Why not give the other students a pokémon too?" I dared to ask and the professor barked out a laugh.

"You two want to study pokémon behaviors, don't you? The easiest way to do that is to raise a pokémon from the egg and beyond. I want you two to study the differences between a human-raised pokémon versus a pokémon raised in the wild, though I doubt you will be able to find another one of the same species." He pressed a button on an intercom. "Lauren, can you bring two of the eggs up to the meeting room?"

"Of course, I'll be right there," came my mom's reply.

I was still for a moment and looked at Buster, unsure how well he would handle having a newborn pokémon and having to help me raise one. How well could _I_ handle one? Karen looked at me, her eyes telling me that she felt the same way as I did, unsure of the decision. "Wait, you said train them? But what if we don't want to battle?" she blurted, looking up at the professor.

"You do not have to battle with them, Karen. Just train them in any way you see fit. If you do not want to battle, that is perfectly fine. I'm sure Nim will be the fighter, right?"

I groaned inwardly. Everyone these days wanted to battle, but I was glad someone else saw what I did: what was the point in battling? But I felt conflicted all of a sudden; I had felt an odd adrenaline rush when Buster and Luda had been fighting the forest pokémon, and it was exciting but every time one of the innocent wild pokémon fainted, I knew it was in pain. But Luda and Buster loved to battle, I had even caught them trying to fight each other in my bedroom once right before they started their mock battle. "I… I guess," I finally said and looked up as Mom entered the room, looking vaguely surprised when she saw me.

"Here you go, professor." She handed the old man one blue egg and a green one. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but are you giving them these pokémon?"

Professor Bougainvillea grinned and nodded, rubbing his beard after handing us the two eggs. I took the green one with a different shade of green triangles over it and Karen took the blue that had a brown shell design at the back of it. "Yes. They are studying pokémon behaviors, and what better way to help them than to make them raise one? It won't be easy on their journey but I'm sure these two are able to do it." A twinkle appeared in his brown eyes. "I have high hopes for these two." He stood up, going towards the whiteboard again, but instead pulled a map down from just above it. "I also have another request from you two, or rather, Nim. I want you to enter the gym challenge. It's brand new, and they requested me to send a beginning trainer or two to challenge them. There are seven gyms right now, the eighth is being built as we speak. By the time you finish the seventh gym, construction should be completed."

"The gym challenge?" I asked, but Buster seemed to be very interested, staring at the professor as he nodded.

"Some pokémon enjoy battling, and it looks like your Growlithe wants to take on the challenge."

"Grow!"

"Detailed rules can be found at the Viridian pokémon center, since that's the nearest one. I know neither of you can afford pokéballs just yet, so I can spare you both a few. You will need to catch wild pokémon and study their behaviors as well and inform me of your egg's growth at least once a week until June twentieth next year." He handed both of us a map, five pokéballs for Karen and four for myself. "I have already circled where all of the gyms are at in a bright red so you can easily see them. Start with the Pewter City gym and then make your way to Cerulean City. By then, you should have the hang of it."

I looked at the map. Above the red circles he'd made, he also put a number above them telling us the order of which to go to each gym. As I stared at the map, I yelped as Mom hugged me out of nowhere. "Mom!" I objected loudly, ignoring Karen's giggling.

"Oh, my baby's finally going out on his own!" she cried out and even the professor chortled, most likely how fast my face grew red again.

"And one other thing, I do not want either of you to travel by car or plane. You both will walk or ride a bicycle the entire trip." Say what? Not even one taxi cab? Oh, this was going to be a tiring trip, probably stressful too, I didn't have the money to stay in hotels or anything! "I will give you two these I.D. cards, and during the night if you are in a city, all the people at the front desk has to do is scan the barcode here and your stay will be paid by me. The maximum per city is only three days, understand?" I swear Professor Bougainvillea could read my mind or something. "Now get going, you two have the longest trip and only so much time to accomplish it."

Finally I got Mom to let go of me, told us that the eggs were nearly ready to hatch, and she bid me good luck and good bye so quickly, I could've sworn she was even more excited to have the house to herself for nearly a year than she was disappointed that I was leaving her alone. I felt a little guilty that I was leaving her, with the danger I decided to put myself into along with her, but seeing Karen look _very_ excited as we stepped outside of the laboratory, holding the blue egg close to her chest while I held my green egg under my arm to keep it close. "I wonder what these pokémon will hatch into," Karen said as she looked at the egg. Pipa was watching it curiously as I shrugged.

"Dunno, but judging by the color, maybe a grass and water type."

"You think so?" She looked at the egg again, smiling brightly. "Maybe. I heard most water type eggs are lots of different colors, though. I've even heard that a Magikarp egg is red and Poliwag's egg has a swirl on it!"

I smiled as she rambled on. There was something cute about this girl that I couldn't quite put my finger to. "Well, my mom did say that they will hatch in a day or two, so we have to be ready for them to come at any time." I looked at the green egg again, blinking a little. It was definitely moving around inside and a bit of excitement filled me. "If we are going to go on this journey, we will need lots of supplies, so maybe you should go to your house and meet me back at Route 1 in an hour."

Karen nodded and ran off quickly. "See you soon, then!" she called after me as I made my way to my house.

An hour came and went and I had everything I needed and stuffed the uncomfortable uniform into my backpack. I threw on a black t-shirt and blue jeans, and a simple pair of hiking boots. I knew my feet were going to hurt even with my trusty pair of shoes, but it didn't matter for the moment—the thrill of a lifetime was ahead of me! Buster was catching onto my excitement, I'd never seen his tail wag so hard before, it seemed like it would fall off as we ran outside. By the time we reached the last hill, I saw that Karen was already there, cradling the egg with Pipa at her feet.

She, too, had opted to change out of her uniform into a black pair of capris that were loose at the bottom, a dark green button-up shirt that was cut off at her shoulders and two black bracelets, one thick and one thin, both metal and both simple. I also couldn't help but to notice how large her chest and hips seemed to be without that ugly uniform shirt we were made to wear. I gulped down any sign that I was staring, but it didn't seem like she noticed at all as she smiled at me. "Nim! Are you ready?" she called, waving.

I nodded. Oh, was I really ready. Not only did I get to go travel the world and learn how to research pokémon on my own, I got to travel with a beautiful girl! That's any male's dream, I believe. Buster ran behind me as we hurried to catch up and I looked at the two eggs again. "Do you think they'll hatch at the same time? I think mine is going to hatch tonight, it's been shaking ever since we were at the house."

"That's why you were late? Mine hasn't been shaking as much, but I'm sure it will soon." She smiled and Pipa hopped off of her shoulders to walk beside Buster and as the two talked to each other, I dug Luda's pokéball out and released her, smiling as Pipa jumped a bit at her sudden entrance.

"Pika pi!"

"Tini?"

Karen looked amazed. "You have a _Dratini_? Those are supposed to be, like, ultra rare or something!"

"Come again?" Now _that_ I didn't know. "Ultra rare?"

"Supposedly Dratini and their evolutions don't come out of the water ever! Where did you find her? Oh, she's gorgeous!" Luda beamed at the praise, slithering beside Buster with ease.

"It's… it's complicated. Maybe I'll tell you later." Or not at all. I didn't need her to find out the real reason why I moved to Pallet Town, it would be far too dangerous. The Mafia (I still laugh at their chosen name, but whatever, not my psychotic criminal gang) would try to kill her too if I told her any little detail. Hell, traveling around with her was just as dangerous wasn't it?

Karen pouted but smiled instead. "Well, she's still a pretty pokémon."

With the pace we were at, we managed to reach Viridian City before it was completely dark. I knew my way around, especially the pokémon center, but since we were students of Professor Bougainvillea, we could just rent a room at a hotel for the night. As we gladly went up to our room, Buster huffed and puffed as he flopped onto the floor right in front of the bathroom door. "Really, Buster? Sheesh, get in my way, why don't you?" I muttered and stepped over him just to take a quick shower. I could hear Karen giggling as I closed the door with the egg sitting on my bed with Luda protectively curled around it. Maybe her motherly instincts were kicking in or something, she wouldn't even let Buster nudge it to see what it was.

As soon as I climbed into bed, I could hear Karen snoring quietly with Pipa and her blue egg in between herself and the yellow mouse, but I was mesmerized by my own egg when it started to glow brightly. "Karen! Karen, wake up! Karen!" I shook her shoulder roughly, trying to wake her up so she could see the egg hatching! The girl finally woke up and rubbed her eyes, sitting up as she stared at my bed as well. When the glowing stopped, the baby pokémon sitting on my bed was indeed a grass type, given away by the seedling on its back and how green it was. It finally opened its eyes as I went to the three pokémon swiftly, smiling at it. "Hi, there. I've never seen one of your kind before."

It blinked up at me, staring at me with red eyes but it smiled soon. "Saur! Bulba! Bulbasaur! Saur!" it cried in a high-pitched tone.

"Tini!"

"Grow!"

I smiled again and laughed as it gave me a gentle head butt, but we all looked over towards Karen's bed when she gave a loud squeak of surprise when her egg started glowing as well. She fell off the bed and scolded me for laughing at her but we both stared at the blue turtle that was looking around with curiosity that matched Buster's. "Squirtle? Squirt! Squirtle!"

"So I would assume that this is a Bulbasaur and that is a Squirtle," I mentioned as Karen picked up the tiny turtle, smiling as she cradled it, much to its delight. "Maybe that third egg has hatched by now. We should call Professor Bougainvillea tomorrow morning."

"Well, duh. I'm not going to let the professor wonder if these two hatched yet! I'm honestly surprised mine hatched as quickly as it did, I thought it would hatch tomorrow and not tonight." Our attention turned back to the two newly hatched pokémon. Luda and Buster were fawning over the newborn Bulbasaur and I stared at it for a while, watching it play with the two until it wore itself out and seemingly passed out with its head on Buster's shoulders and Luda curled around them. I knew it was male, I didn't even have to ask Luda to confirm it for me this time.

Karen had already named the Squirtle Daxter, and I noticed he preferred sleeping inside of his shell rather than up against Pipa like my pokémon were with each other. I glanced back at the baby pokémon, smiling. "Your name is Cid."

Arceus, I just like naming my pokémon after video game characters, don't I?

I smiled as I nodded to myself and flipped out my phone, texting my sister, _Got a new pkmn. Its a bulbasaur and named it Cid. Prof bougainvillea gave the egg to me._

As soon as I flipped it closed, it vibrated again with her response. _Shouldnt u b in bed already?_

_Maybe a little 'awwe, thats adorable' would be nice for once. Good night to you too._

_Go 2 fking sleep._

And that's my sister, folks! My sister the gentle, kind soul.

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**A/N: How many of you have a similar relationship with your siblings? I know I do with my little brother XD Anyway, I sort of feel like this chapter was slightly rushed near the end, but I'm happy how it turned out, so yea. Thanks for reading!  
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	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"_Vision without execution is just hallucination."_

_-Henry Ford_

Baby pokémon are pretty much the same as human babies, I came to realize. They were hard, hard work to raise and even harder to try to get them to sit still for five minutes to talk to the professor from the hotel's brand spankin' new video-phone. Professor Bougainvillea was in awe over the two pokémon and we got to see the little fire-lizard that had hatched as well, which he called a Charmander. Cid decided that I had held him long enough in front of a screen and whipped me in the face with a vine and promptly jumped off of my lap when I had let go. Buster couldn't stop laughing and Karen fussed over the red spot on my face as Daxter looked on at us with confusion, still sitting in Karen's lap peacefully.

After we had gotten off the phone with the professor, I scolded Buster for laughing, but he pointedly ignored me while Cid began to cry—again. I guess baby pokémon would always be baby pokémon. Both Cid and Daxter cried a lot during our stay in Viridian City. We stayed for a grand total of three days but on the first, we had to get them both to stay quiet and fed. So Karen went out with Pipa to get bottles and special formula from the pokémart, a short, simple trip that turned into a few hours. I never did learn why girls and women love to shop so much, it's still beyond my own comprehension. Once she was gone, Daxter seemed to panic a little that his 'mother' wasn't there but he stayed on my lap as I texted my mother to tell her how the new pokémon were doing.

The little turtle seemed fascinated with the device, often trying to take it away from me to play with. Just for the baby pokémon, I downloaded a game designed specifically for pokémon and let him take the phone to play with while the others watched curiously. I heard the beeping noises for hours, until finally the phone died and I had to charge it, along with sounds of disappointment. By then, Daxter wore himself out and was sleeping inside of his shell beside Cid when Karen returned with the pokéfood and formula. She told me they looked cute when they slept like that and I could only roll my eyes and think of the damned game I downloaded. It was free, but still, I couldn't even finish texting my own mother for the pokémon!

On another note, getting Daxter and Cid to at least stay in the pokéballs for five seconds just to register them was the biggest challenge at the time. I was constantly tackled by the little pokémon, but its tackle _hurt!_ Arceus, I didn't know that even newborns could hit so hard! I was pretty sure Cid was gaining experience from defeating me with those tackles and random whips every five seconds. Or maybe it was just me.

Sure, Daxter cried a lot too, but I didn't see him tackling into Karen at all, or making a bubble appear and pop in front of her face. I grew a bit jealous that, again, I had to do the harder work of the two of us. During the times when they weren't eating, crying or sleeping, they were both very playful, and Buster was happy another pokémon had as much energy as he did. Daxter's shell had hardened overnight and hid inside of it often when he was startled or sleeping. The only thing that would tell us that he was still inside of it was the tail that stuck out.

We left the city at about nine in the morning on the fourth day, and I smiled as Buster gave Cid a ride on his back while Karen carried the tiny Squirtle gently in her own arms. I think Buster was proud to help raise a baby pokémon, completely understanding that it would cry at the most inconvenient of times or get hungry and try to gnaw on his paws but he acted like a foster parent for the baby. Maybe it was nature's instincts for a pokémon to help another out.

Luda, however, was jealous of the new pokémon. At first she had been all right with it but when most of Buster's attention went to trying to take care of Cid, she often tried to gently nudge the baby off of his back or come in between the two just so she could be right beside the fire type. Whenever she did, Cid would start to cry and Buster would jump right over Luda to calm the baby down again. I couldn't help but laugh at Luda's annoyance when her companion's attention was—again—consumed by the tiny Bulbasaur.

Pipa had no problems with Daxter, since she was the only other pokémon of Karen's. She even taught Daxter how to sit on Karen's shoulder without falling off. Cid tried to do that with me once, but since neither Buster nor Luda sat on my shoulders, he had a hard time staying on until he fell off and I caught him to let him walk beside Buster and Luda again. Eventually he learned that the vines he held in the green bulb on his back could be used for hanging on and decided to try and climb up again, this time using said vines to hold on, around my head, no less. I knew I looked funny with a vine around my forehead since Karen giggled and Buster barked playfully. Luda had learned to wrap herself around my shoulders as well, occasionally hanging on around my waist.

We were in the forest when the sun began to fall and knowing we would have to camp out for the night, I chose to stop just off of the road, followed closely by my black-haired human companion. Karen huffed in exhaustion as she flopped onto the grass gratefully and Daxter hopped off of her shoulder along with Pipa. "I need to get better shoes or something, my feet are killing me!" she complained, scratching Pipa's head.

I was just as tired, but I wasn't about to flop onto the ground like she did. I set my backpack down and rolled out my sleeping back before I sat on top of it, laying down to stare up at the sky. It was currently a deep orange-red, and looking towards my right, I could see the dark sky begin to quickly envelop the light. "I know what you mean, I'm not used to walking around so much." I sat up, smiling as Cid looked towards me expectantly.

"Saur!"

"Hungry?" Cid nodded vigorously, hopping to me as I dug through my pack for the formula and bottle. A sudden whip hit my hand, forcing me to drop the bottle. "Ow!" I hissed through my teeth and looked at Cid with a slight glare but it disappeared as he shook his head and pointed with the same vine towards the pokémon food meant for Luda and Buster. "You want to try it?" When Cid nodded again, I shrugged and pulled out one of the many pokéfood pouches then tore it open easily. Buster and Luda immediately recognized the sound, both of them expecting their dinners as well. "You all think with your stomachs," I teased and smiled as Buster barked.

After putting the pouches of food into three separate bowls, I watched Cid as he tried the pokéfood, smiling a bit as the small Bulbasaur enjoyed every bit after a few bites. Looking towards Karen, she was feeding Daxter a bottle he happily accepted while Pipa ate along with the other pokémon. I got up and started gathering a few branches and such, snapping the larger ones against my thigh so I could stack the wood against each other in the middle of our campsite. Buster watched me curiously as I finished and looked towards him. "Mind lighting this up for me?"

His face lit up and nodded, trotting to the branches before breathing a weak Ember to light it. It didn't take long for the fire to spread to the other branches, and the warmth was very welcome as night fell over the forest. The chill reached my back before I set my sleeping back closer to the fire and climbed inside. "You aren't going to eat?" Karen's voice brought me back from my near-sleeping state after a few minutes.

"Too tired," I replied simply, my eyes slowly closing themselves. Her giggle was the last thing I heard before I was out cold. My sleep, however, lasted for maybe a few hours before I was wide awake again. When I looked around, I noticed it was completely dark and Cid, Luda and Buster were cuddled right beside me, still fast asleep. Arceus damn it, curse insomnia!

I sighed quietly to myself, rolling onto my back carefully to stare up at the starry sky—at least, what I _could_ see through the trees. Various sounds could still be heard at night, I could hear the buzzing of bugs and other nocturnal pokémon, smiling to myself as I spotted a few Rattata. I knew the closer we would get to Cerulean City, the more I would miss home, but right now, it felt like I was home again, at least close enough to be considered home. I wasn't sure how far away we were from the pond behind the house, but I was sure we were closer to Pewter City than Viridian.

As I watched the pokémon for a while, I stared at Buster; I had just gotten him a month and a half ago, but already we'd been through so much. Together, we rescued Luda, after all! Without him, however, I'm sure I would have lived my life in the boring way it had been before. Sleep, get ready for school, attend classes, come home, play video games, do homework until two in the morning, and on weekends sleep, video games, then repeat the process. I realized with this new life I was trying to lead, I wouldn't be able to sit around the house and do nothing anymore.

For some reason, I decided to check my phone. As expected, I didn't have a single text message from my sister, but Jimmy sent a text asking me how school was going and that he thought Mira had a crush on me since she apparently wouldn't stop talking about me. _Schools fine, but I don't think your sister knows enough about video games for me to date,_ I replied and smiled as it sent.

Mira had a crush on little old me? As much as I was flattered, I didn't want to think about dating my best friend's sister. What if we were dating, hypothetically of course? How many times would Jimmy be pissed off that I had upset his baby sister because we got into an argument or how many times would Jimmy be willing to kill me if something serious happened? An angry Jimmy was not a good Jimmy, he was taller and had more muscles than I did! Then I imagined him turning into a giant, green rage monster. I chuckled softly to myself, shaking my head.

I really have to stop reading comic books.

To the sound of my chuckle, Buster stirred a little, turning his stomach up into the air and stuck his tongue out. I wondered what he was dreaming of, but it seemed to be like he was trying to chase something when his paws twitched and every now and then he would give off a soft growl. I scratched his head to calm him down and it worked, he quieted instantly. I tried going back to sleep, but it seemed like my brain wouldn't turn itself off and with an irritated glare towards nothing, I sat up and stretched before climbing out of the sleeping bag. Once I stepped beside the blue bag, I fell to the ground to do a few push-ups. What? I exercise when I can't sleep! It tires me down fast enough!

The sound of me hitting the ground startled Luda so bad, she was wide awake instantly and jumped into Buster roughly. Buster whined loudly, snorting his irritation at the dragon but when she didn't take notice of him, he turned his head to look at me. It was nothing new to the puppy pokémon to see me doing push-ups in the middle of the night so he gave Luda a gentle bite before curling into a ball. Luda was mesmerized, staring at me until I came to the twentieth push-up and sat on the ground, already out of breath. She slithered up to me curiously, sniffing me to make sure I was all right. I laughed quietly, petting her scales. "I'm fine, Luda."

I was amused at her needless concern but at the same time, I was happy that she showed she actually cared about me. She had been a bit distant ever since I had introduced Cid into the happy little family I had. Satisfied, she went back to Buster and curled around him and Cid somehow found out and put his own head against her as a pillow. She shot him a look but she didn't move, instead choosing to go back to sleep as well. I did a few more push-ups (only five because I got tired again and that was my maximum) and finally grew worn-out enough to lay down on top of my sleeping back since I was too warm to get inside of it.

I wasn't sure how long it took me to get back to sleep, but when I woke up the second time, Buster was licking my face to tell me it was time for breakfast. Leave it to the pokémon to let me know when I absolutely _have_ to feed them. I groaned quietly, wiping my face. Karen was still asleep with Pipa and Daxter both awake, however Pipa stayed with Karen while Daxter played with Cid and Luda kept a watch on the two of them, yawning as if she had just woken up as well. "You are a pain in the butt sometimes," I mumbled to Buster, who blinked but jumped up happily when I grabbed my backpack.

Karen woke up after I returned Luda to her pokéball and was fighting to get Cid in his by now. She giggled. "Nim, you have to be nice about it. He isn't used to it, he's still just a baby," she said and rubbed her eyes. I shot a look at her and she sighed. "Like this." She went to Cid, who blinked as she scratched his chin. He made an odd noise I'd never heard but he was smiling stupidly, loving every second of it. "There. Now will you let him put you inside of your pokéball? You have to get used to it, he's your trainer."

Cid looked at me with disapproval before he finally nodded, letting the pokéball pull him back inside without a fight. I frowned as it shrunk and put it on my belt beside Luda's pokéball. "Why doesn't he like me at all?" I asked curiously.

"Maybe because you don't treat him like a pokémon, but a baby." I looked at her, confused. Why wouldn't a baby pokémon want me to treat it like a baby? As if she heard me, she smiled. "He wants to be treated like Buster and Luda, he doesn't want to be different and I don't blame him. Pokémon grow up quickly, and I think grass- and bug-types grow faster. I don't think he has any bug-type in him, but we'll see in the future."

She made total sense, and it clicked in my mind. I watched how Buster treated him differently from Luda, and the latter doesn't like it one bit. I guess I just had to treat them all the same now, as equals like I did with Buster. Maybe that would get our youngest companion to obey instead of whip me every five minutes. We packed our things and headed down the trail towards Pewter City again shortly.

"You never did say why you moved to Pallet Town," Karen said suddenly and looked up at me. "So, why did you?"

"My mom thought it would be a nice change of scenery," I replied immediately. "Viridian City, at least where I lived, wasn't really pretty. Our house had leaks and needed to be worked on, wild pokémon loved to knock over the trash cans outside and it just wasn't a safe neighborhood. So we moved and the next day I started the class." I smiled and Buster wagged his tail. "I like this, though. I'm traveling with one of my best friends and he's a lot cuter than the other friend." Karen laughed along with me. "Jimmy's an awesome guy and all, but he's definitely not my type."

"So then what is?"

"Female, obviously."

"Duh. But what do you like in girls? What makes you like them?"

Suddenly I blushed at the questions and quickly looked ahead and picked up the pace. "U-um… Th-that's something I like to talk about to guy friends, not so much girls." Karen was obviously puzzled and Buster tilted his head, matching her confusion. "Anyway, we're almost out of the forest."

She looked around at the thinning trees. "Oh, I didn't even notice until now!" She smiled and stopped when I did, accidentally running into me. "Why'd you stop?" I could feel her peer over my shoulder and stopped as well.

I don't know what they were, but they looked like they had pig noses and clung to the trees as monkeys, a few hanging off with one arm and a few on the ground, but all of their beady little eyes were on us all. All in all, it was creepy and frightening at the same time. I had no idea what these pokémon were, but one of them screeched and leaped off of the tree it hung from. It was obviously the leader, I could easily spot an old, deep scar running across its left eye and a few other nicks on its arms and legs and it was larger than the others. "Mankey!" it cried, getting into an offensive position and leaped at us.

"Buster, use Ember!" I shouted. Buster leaped forward and sent the fire at the attacking pokémon, avoiding a damaging Karate Chop as he jumped over the pig monkey. "Now use Roar!" Buster positioned himself in front of the group of Mankey and let out an ear-shattering roar. Most of the Mankey fled, however the leader just looked furious, clearly not wanting to back down from the fight against my starter. "Fine, if that's the way you want it." I pointed at it. "Buster use—"

"Waaaaaiiit! I want to try!" Karen suddenly exclaimed and waved her hands around the air like a madwoman to catch everyone's attention. Well it worked, but it also made myself, Mankey and Buster freeze in confusion as we all stared at her. Daxter was the only one moving as he jumped off of her shoulder and onto the ground while Pipa cheered him on.

"Eh? I thought you didn't like battling!" I crossed my arms across his chest. "You want to catch it?" I noticed she had a pokéball in her hand, and I assumed it was empty.

"If I'm supposed to train pokémon, what better way to have a pokémon that can help train Pipa and Daxter than me?"

I saw no logic in that whatsoever. "But if you're going to become a trainer, then you have to train them, not a pokémon."

"I hate battling like you do, but you look like you're having fun with it! Daxter's watching, look! He's really, _really_ paying attention! I think he really wants to battle and if what you said about pokémon is true back at the lab, then maybe I should become a trainer." She looked hesitant and Daxter smiled up at her, giving a few sounds. "Buster, move outta the way, me and Daxter will do this!"

I coughed, choking on my own spittle. "You're using Daxter? But he's just a baby!"

"Squirt!" Daxter snapped at me, swishing his tail once before stepping in front of Buster, who seemed confused and looked at me for guidance. Finally I sighed and waved him back to me, stepping out of the way so that Daxter and Mankey could have their battle.

Karen gave a grin. "Then I'll just copy what you did, Daxter—use Tackle!" She stuck her hand out as she said this and Daxter didn't even hesitate before rushing up to Mankey as fast as his little legs could carry him. I was honestly worried about the little guy when he hit Mankey but when it got up, it used Scratch and got his underbelly. Karen cried out but Daxter was smiling, puffing out his shell—it didn't have a single mark on it! Mankey was just as surprised as I was, but Karen seemed to know what she was doing. Maybe she secretly watched those tournaments on T.V. or something. "Now use Bubble!"

Mankey did its best to avoid all of the bubbles, but even after being hit with so many of them, it only seemed to be winded while Daxter tried to dodge another Scratch, but he was knocked to the side and hit the ground. Shakily he stood and obeyed another Bubble command. Finally the Mankey seemed to be worse for wear and tried to send a Low Kick at Daxter. "Daxter, jump up and then come down with a Tackle and Bubble!"

It was operated so smoothly, I swore I was watching a movie or something as the turtle jumped up and narrowly avoided the hit and then used Bubble to push it away and finally slammed himself into Mankey hard. Mankey didn't get up from that last attack and Karen smiled, grabbing the first empty pokéball she could grab and finally threw it at Mankey's head. How did she know how to catch a wild pokémon in the first place? My look must have given it away and she smiled sheepishly. "There was this weird guy on the road that showed me how to catch pokémon after I gave him some coffee. He caught a Weedle, by the way. Ugly little things, really."

"Bugs creep me out too," I murmured and smiled as she jumped towards the now-still pokéball. "You did it! I've never seen anyone catch a pokémon before, actually."

Karen was smiling brightly, fist-pumping into the air as she picked up the pokéball. "I caught that little sucker! But let's get to a pokémon center, I'm sure he's still hurting."

"He?"

"You weren't paying attention, were you?"

"Why would I look there during a battle?"

"There's this move that Pipa can use, but only on the opposite gender and it's called Attract, so I have to look naturally now. Here, I'll show you. Pipa, use Attract on Buster."

Pipa hopped off of her shoulder and suddenly the little Pikachu did her most adorable face and I could've sworn I saw hearts in Buster's eyes; he started panting and following the yellow mouse around like she was the love of his life. That was some special move, it made my most loyal companion into her own barking servant. I smiled and finally when he snapped out of it, he whined while Pipa laughed, rolling on the ground as Karen went to Daxter, picking him up and hugged him tightly. "You did great, Daxter! I'm so proud of you!"

"Squirtle!" Daxter looked just as happy as Karen, hugging her right back and didn't fight against her when she put him back into his pokéball.

She looked at her new pokémon's pokéball. "I think I'll name him Apes."

"Apes? Really?"

"What? You have 'Buster' and 'Luda' and 'Cid.' Two out of three are from video games."

"Wait, you know about that?"

She chose to ignore that. "To the pokémon center we go!"

"You are way too happy right now." She grabbed my wrist, ignoring me and yanked me as she started running. She laughed as I yelped in shock and nearly fell on my face but instead of the shocked running it became a race to see who could run the fastest the longest. Obviously Buster won, but I was glad I could at least outrun a girl. We reached the top of a hill on Route 2 and on the top of it is where I stopped with Buster, smiling as I took in the view of Pewter City. I looked behind us as Karen finally caught up, huffing and puffing, but she stood up straight with me to look at the city. "It looks like something that came out of a fairy tale, huh?" I asked, seeing the cobblestone streets and older buildings. In Viridian City, the oldest thing we had was the house near the edge of the city, and that was barely ten years old. While Viridian was one of the youngest cities in Kanto, Pewter had been around for hundreds, the same with Pallet Town and Vermillion City.

Pewter City was bustling with activity at five p.m., and more than once we had to ask for directions to the pokémon center. After being told the directions by a passing jogger, we found out we could have seen it from a mile away if we really looked. It was a well-lit building with a giant pokéball in between the 'é' and 'b' while inside, windows surrounded the empty lobby. As we entered, a bored nurse looked up and smiled at us, setting down the magazine she had been reading. "Well, it isn't often we have trainers as old as you are," she commented, taking Karen's pokéballs while Buster flat-out refused to get a check-up when I handed Luda and Cid's pokéballs.

"We're only students of Professor Bougainvillea. We're raising a few pokémon is all we're doing," I replied. "But what do you mean by as old as us? You mean there are younger trainers out there?"

"Oh, my, yes! Most of them are only ten or eleven! Much too young to be venturing out in my opinion."

"Ten? What the hell? When I was ten, I was still in elementary school!"

"Well, league rules do say that children at the age of ten, with a parent or guardian's consent, are allowed to go out and become a trainer," Karen replied. "Or did you not pay any attention to the nurse in Viridian City?"

To be honest, that long speech was one I sort of slept on. We weren't the only ones in the room, but come to think of it, we were one of the taller ones. Most of those kids barely reached my ribs. I smiled sheepishly at Karen and rubbed my head. "We're only seventeen, but I'll be eighteen in December."

"I'm older than you are!"

"Say what?"

"I'm only one month older, but I'm still older!"

I groaned. Sure, she was my age, but she was still older. Everyone my age was magically older than I was, but it also sucks having a birthday in December, and on the twentieth, no less! Not only are you the last one to turn whatever age it is, most times my mom would combine Christmas and my birthday together, and she would always tell me if I wanted something expensive, it would have to be both my birthday and Christmas gift. Quinn is _so_ lucky she was born in May, I swear!

We were in the waiting room for a little while as our pokémon were healed and received check-ups, but it only took fifteen minutes. After retrieving our pokémon, we managed to get a room from the center itself for a week, but I didn't want to stay that long. We would if needed, though. I had to train Cid if he wanted to battle the leader of the city as well. I would probably use Buster for most of the battles since he was my strongest pokémon, but Luda wasn't too far behind and could put up a fight as well. I left my things in the room and headed outside with my pokémon, telling Karen we'd be back before, as she liked to call it, lights out.

We ventured onto Route 3, which was thankfully empty of other trainers but the thing that stood out to me the most was the bareness of the mountain trail leading up to Mount Moon. I'd never been this close to the mountain in my life and now I was still maybe two or three miles away from it, but it was still majestic even from here. There weren't many trees around, so I could see the sky clearly and how the mountain earned its name. The moon was just above the peak, and even in clear daylight, I could see it and how huge it was compared to the mountain it dwarfed.

Buster wasn't as interested in the scenery as I was and started playing in the grass nearby. "Hey, Buster, stay close!" I called to him, going towards the puppy. He barked at me happily instead, his tail wagging as he leaped towards me. I learned he was doing this to just play and I landed on the ground with him on top as usual but not before I released Cid and Luda. Seeing that we were playing, Luda quickly—and unexpectedly—jumped onto my stomach. "Hey! I'm not some mattress for you two!" I objected, sitting up as Buster jumped off, laughing as I set Luda down gently. I was completely content watching the three of them play as I sat against a large rock, chuckling as Buster decided to have a mock battle with Cid, and he barked at me to get up while Cid jumped up and down, way too excited for his own good.

"We can have a battle but no fire moves, got it, Buster?" Buster nodded and Luda made a sound and a huff, wanting to battle as well. "You can take Buster on after this, Luda." The dragon nodded and slithered up onto my shoulders to watch it from my height. "All right, Cid, you have to listen to everything I tell you."

"Bulba!"

He did the strangest thing I've ever seen him do just then: he got a few feet in front of me and braced himself as if an attack was going to come immediately and two vines appeared from his bulb. "Cid, put your vines away, in a battle, pokémon can grab them and it'll leave you defenseless."

"Saur?"

"Do as I say, trust me." He grumbled something but obeyed. Buster leaped in for a Bite, and I smiled. "Tackle, Cid!"

Cid jumped forward and didn't seem to mind Buster jumping up to avoid the attack but got him good in the side and I heard the puppy yelp immediately, shocked that the tiny pokémon had quite the hit. He then looked at me, as if wondering how I was able to withstand those awful Tackles nearly every day. "Cid! Use Vine Whip!"

"Bulb?" He looked at me, confused.

"That's what you do to me every morning when I wake you up? You use those vines and then you grab something or you whip your opponent or whatever."

He seemed to understand and two vines came out, one of them whipping at Buster and the other trying to grab his paws to keep him still. We trained until it was completely dark and when all three pokémon were worn out, each of them sleeping around me as I stared at the sky again. Something about camping outside made me feel great but once it started to get cold, I decided to return Luda and Cid to their pokéballs and woke Buster up. He complained about having to get up but I didn't care, it was time to head back and go to a real bed instead of laying on the grass like homeless people. Well, for the moment we were, I guess. We were just travelling away from home, and we still had a very long way to go. There were seven gyms and I had already been out of Pallet Town for four days and we hadn't even challenged one gym yet. That would all change tomorrow morning when we would go to the gym and challenge its leader, then win our first match.

I stood up, yawning and Buster stretched as I walked ahead and turned around when I didn't see him hurry. "Buster, come on, you slowpoke!" I called to him and I heard him grumble again before finally dashing over towards me.

It was the snarl that startled me more than my head feeling like it suddenly exploded. I was out cold before I hit the ground.

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**Uh-oh, cliffhanger time! :P I can be so mean sometimes. Thanks for reading!**

**Oh, one last thing for a..._certain_ reader of mine...Iliya... You know who you are.  
**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Soooooooo very sorry about the wait, life happened and yea... it kicked my sorry little butt. But here's chapter five! I promise the wait won't be as long next time :D**

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**Chapter Five**

"_There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."_

_-Albert Einstein_

_That snarl… I recognize it. It means trouble. Come on, wake up! Stop being such a wuss and wake the hell up!_

I could only imagine that last part being said by Quinn, but I guess she was rubbing off on me. Buster's snarl had startled me so bad I didn't hear anything behind me, but I doubted it was a human otherwise the puppy pokémon would've done something such as barking. I felt the ground hit my face with full force but instead of seeing the ground, I saw a white floor.

No, not a floor.

Snow. And lots of it.

_What the fuck? Oh, right. I'm unconscious. I guess. Weird. First time for everything, though, some not as likeable as others._

It took some time to realize that this was just a simple dream—roaring winds, blizzards and snow all around. Nothing happened, though, it was just… there. I don't even know how else to describe it, it only happened for a few seconds, but something warm was on my face until finally I blinked and felt Buster's tongue licking me along with a worried Growlithe face. "…Buster?" I finally muttered, much to his delight and he licked me again until I had to push him away to get him to stop it. I sat up—then regretted it immediately. I winced and put a hand on my head, cursing up a storm. "What the hell just happened?"

"Grow." He turned his head towards two fallen humans, both of them unconscious. At first I was worried but when I saw they were wearing black uniforms, I took a quick gasp. Those were the same uniforms that crazy lady had worn during the beginning of this whole fiasco.

"Come on, Buster, let's get out of here before they wake up." Buster nodded and trotted after me as we ran.

Not too far off, I saw three fallen pokémon as well; one small purple mouse (or more commonly known as Rattata. We had plenty of those in Viridian), a blind blue bat commonly known as Zubat (try saying that five times fast), and one more that I wasn't sure what it was. It had two arms but its body was a simple round rock. All three of them had severe burns, though the rock pokémon had the least injuries among the other two. If I had to take a gander on which one had knocked me out, it would be the rock pokémon.

I paused when I saw the three of them. Why were there three pokémon and two trainers? Any of those three could live around here and if the two Mafia members had not been there, I would assume they all lived here too. Speaking of which, maybe I should start paying attention to my surroundings more than start straying into my thoughts and ignore the sounds of people getting up.

"Hey! You're that kid!" the first one snapped, returning the Rattata.

That was _very_ specific, don't you agree? "'That kid?' I have a name and I would've thought your boss would've told you by now!" I retorted while Buster jumped in front of me, snarling at him.

"You want to fight? That puppy won't stand a chance against Nidoran!"

Seriously? All I did was tell him that his boss, the crazy lady, should have told her 'employees' my name by now. Eh, whatever, we could do with a little more practice, right? We were way stronger than this joker! He threw out the pokéball and another purple pokémon came out. It was clearly the male version with long ears and its poisonous spikes coming out in all sorts of directions from its back. Sure it was small, but it did look like it could hold its own against Buster. Actually, take that back, it looked too small to fight against my awesome pokémon!

I smirked, deciding to do a little bit of teasing. "Seems to me that you love the color purple." I snickered at the anger in the man's face. "Buster, use Ember!"

Buster reared his head up and shot the fire at Nidoran, who dodged it with ease. I then noticed how tired Buster looked and I cursed mentally to myself for not noticing before. He had taken down three other pokémon and I prayed he could take down one more before he got hurt. I guess even simple grunt members could use their brains, though. "Nidoran, use Focus Energy then attack with Double Kick!" the man shouted.

Nidoran braced himself and his eyes grew sharper and more alert as he ran towards Buster. The puppy pokémon was too slow to avoid the two painful hits and because of how tired he was before, he hit the ground hard in front of me. "Buster!" I knelt beside him, frowning when he fainted instead and I put him in his pokéball.

Now maybe it wasn't the brightest idea to make fun of them. I grabbed Luda's pokéball. "Fine. Luda! Go!"

Luda popped out and when she didn't see Buster out, she gave me a confused look. "Tini?"

"It's your turn to battle, Luda, use Thunder Wave!" She nodded and as soon as she paralyzed Nidoran, I grinned. "Now use ExtremeSpeed!"

"Nidoran! Start moving and use Poison Sting!" the man shouted but it was no good; Nidoran couldn't move an inch even when Luda slammed herself into the smaller pokémon. "Nidoran, get up, damn it!"

"Luda, use Wrap and then a face-first Dragon Rage!" Luda slithered on over quickly and wrapped herself around the Nidoran, squeezing until it was squeaking in pain and finally it screeched when the second attack hit it. When Luda let it go, it didn't get up.

Now, I know I could've done something more humane to make the Nidoran faint, but time was of the essence if I wanted to get out of there. Buster was out, Cid was probably still tired from the training since I could see it in Luda's movements. Nidoran had shrieked in pain and even though it was the enemy, I felt sorry for it. I was still unsure about battling, I hated seeing the pokémon in pain of any kind especially when it came to my own pokémon.

It didn't seem like the man had any other pokémon when he cursed and recalled Nidoran, starting to flee instead, not caring about his companion in the least bit. The one on the ground started waking up and cursed as he rubbed his arm, where a patch of the cloth was missing from a burn, which I could safely assume was Buster's handiwork. "I beat your buddy, so I would suggest you run too!" I snapped at him, and Luda nodded, staying in front of me with a powerful, "Tini!"

"You really call him a friend if he left me for dead?" he replied calmly, brushing himself off as he got up onto his feet. Dark eyes surveyed me carefully. "And you're the kid Yin told me about? Hmph, you look more like a high school student rather than a trainer." I didn't know criminals like him could speak so civilly. Oh, man, he reminded me of my sister. What is it with my sister references tonight? I didn't know. "Look kid, if you really want me to kill you, by all means, stay here. All we're here for are the Rhyhorn and Rhydon. They're good for knocking buildings down."

I glared, my hands clenched into tight fists. "Knocking buildings down? I'm not going anywhere until you tell me and after I turn you into the cops!"

He matched my glare, taking out a pokéball. "Like I'd tell you, kid. But you're lucky, there aren't any around here, just a bunch of worthless Geodude."

All of these pokémon he was naming rang absolutely zero bells in my head, but I knew it would mean big trouble if they got their hands on these Rhyhorn and Rhydon. "So you want to fight too? Heh, I sound like your comrade then. Fine, bring it on!"

The man narrowed his eyes. "I did not wish to fight, but very well, if you insist. I am far stronger than you are, I can guarantee you that."

"I'm pretty damn sure I could beat you!" But in my mind, I had the horrible gut feeling that I made a nasty mistake of challenging him.

He threw the pokéball and out came a strange-looking pokémon—wait! That's the same kind of pokémon Daniel had! I think he called it a Mightyena, or something like that. But this one looked much tougher, a seasoned battler and the look in its eyes said that it didn't care about tearing limbs apart. I must've made my fear obvious because the grunt smirked, and brushed his hand through his dark hair to push it out of his face. "You really that determined to beat me, kid?"

"Of course! Luda, use ExtremeSpeed!"

"Sucker Punch!"

Despite Luda's speed, Mightyena rushed up and a dark aura surrounded one of its paws before it slammed it into Luda's underbelly, causing her to cry out in shock and pain before hitting the ground. "Luda!"

"Give it up, kid. You won't win this one." I glowered at him as I knelt beside Luda, making sure she was all right before putting her back into her pokéball. I still had Cid, but I didn't know if I should use him; he was still just a baby, and an exhausted one and had just learned how to use Sleep Powder and we could—

Wait.

Sleep Powder.

I mentally hit myself for that one, I could just put them both to sleep and run away! I took out Cid's pokéball and released him. "That's okay, we're just going to run away. Cid, use Sleep Powder!" The bulb on his back opened up, releasing a silver powder that was blown towards Mightyena and its trainer—

And then the damned wind decided to pick up and blow it away from them.

Why does my luck always run on the bad side for me?

In short, I could feel a drop of sweat run down in the back of my head, and I could've sworn I saw on our opponents heads as well, though they recovered much faster than Cid and I. "Mightyena, end this pathetic battle with Crunch!"

I tried to tell Cid to dodge but the jaws sunk into him and he shouted with pain before and after being thrown to the side and being knocked out. "Cid!" I rushed to him and glared at the man and pokémon. "I—"

"You are the one who challenged us to a battle. I did warn you, you just decided not to listen. Your arrogance and over-confidence took place instead."

_Note to self: always go with your gut instinct. Never challenge anyone that wants to kill you. Didn't Quinn say something about that?_

I said nothing, knowing he was right and recalled Cid, putting his pokéball back onto my belt.

The man gave a soft, "Humph." Then he approached me, making me back up a few steps. He stopped only when I had pressed myself against the boulder. "You should do well to remember that you are not invincible. As for the buildings I want to knock down, they are just a few of them around Kanto. Nothing that's important to you, though."

"And how many lives will you be taking?" I retorted, making him blink with mild surprise but he shrugged as if he didn't care. "So you'll kill people if you don't get what you want, is that it?"

"Personally, I'd like to go with as little deaths as possible. Yin… she is my top soldier but sadly, she enjoys killing and hurting others. I believe she has what is called a sadist personality." He shrugged, taking a step back.

I was totally confused. The woman who'd attacked me before, Yin, was apparently under this guy. So they had ranks in this gang? My eyes widened a little. That was why my sister was on the case, these people weren't just a gang, this was a criminal organization. The police wouldn't be able to do anything about it, but Interpol definitely could. The man smirked as the realization hit my face.

This man was also their leader.

And he'd squashed my team with only two moves.

He caught on quickly; he made me realize that he wasn't stupid like his companion had been. He was intelligent, much taller and stronger than I was, and probably rich too. "If you really want to confirm it, yes. Your Growlithe caught me unaware enough to knock me out before I could send a pokémon out to fight back. Yes, that Geodude over there knocked you out first. No, it does not belong to me." He patted Mightyena's head, who started making a happy noise as soon as he scratched its ears. "And finally, yes. I do want you dead. One of the rare occasions that I would be willing to kill you myself."

"If you're their leader, then why are you in the same uniform?" I asked, trying to hide my fear. Might as well get a few words in before I die, right?

He thought for a moment. "I like going out in the field sometimes, that grunt that had run away? Yes, he will be punished. He is probably new, he did not recognize me, but he should also know that we do not leave our partners alone." He recalled Mightyena, but as quick as a flash another pokémon appeared in its place. "This here is Gardevoir, and she will show you how to put an enemy to sleep _properly_ here in a few minutes."

My eyes widened in shock. He wouldn't kill me yet? Well, at least I was that lucky today. "T—to sleep? I thought you wanted—"

"You dead? Yes. I do, but you're interesting. And I want it to be a challenge to me. If you can find me when you get stronger, challenge me then and put up a real fight. If Yin finds you first, then she can kill you if she wants to." He grabbed the collar to my shirt, yanking me forward. Startled, I tried pulling out of his grip but his fist was like iron and refused to let go. "You got in my way once, kid. If you hadn't guessed, we deal with rare and strong pokémon, we make our livings with those creatures. The only ones worth traveling with are the strong and your pathetic excuse for pokémon can't even protect you from one Mightyena. Granted, he is at a much higher level than your own, so it was no challenge at all to defeat you, _boy_."

He spat out that last word with such venom, I said nothing again out of fear and stopped struggling, knowing he was bound to let me go soon. My wish was granted although it wasn't as gentle as I'd hoped. He tossed me carelessly to the ground—where in the hell did that man get such strength?—and I coughed, looking up at him.

"The next time I see you, you had better be a man and learn from your mistakes. You have a lot of growing up to do." He turned his head to Gardevoir as she floated over gracefully. "Use Hypnosis then teleport us to Saffron City."

"Voir." Her eyes glowed and it felt like something had pinched the back of my brain, and just like that I saw the ground again.

_That dream again._

It was the same as last time, snow billowing around me and piling up, but this time I could see a cloudy sky with the sun struggling to push through the dark clouds and that below was very, _very_ far down. Once again, nothing happened, and all I could do was take in the beautiful deadliness of the area before I felt myself falling into a void of darkness. I didn't realize I had closed my eyes until I opened them again, seeing only black surrounding me. It was strange; I couldn't see where I was anymore, but I could still see myself clearly.

_What is going on? Why can't I wake up?_

I was petrified instantly; I couldn't wake up no matter how many times I tried, and the silence was driving me bat-shit crazy.

_Is anyone there?_

It wasn't until moans reached my ears, like it was in pain. No, not one. Several. I tried pushing the noise out of my ears, holding them as screams started to come. High-pitched, blood-curdling screams, like someone was being tortured with anything their torturer could find.

_Stop it! Shut up!_

I don't know what was going on, this definitely wasn't the same dream I'd had before. At least then, I was just standing in snow! I fell to my knees, unaware that there was even a ground I was standing on.

_Get out of my head! Stop!_

With each begging breath I had, the noise only continued, it wasn't the volume that had been increasing, but the disturbing moans and screams, the pitiful, garbled words all combined at once made my head feel like it wanted to explode there on the spot, and I didn't know why. It terrified me to no end; I could feel tears begin to form in the back of my eyes, making what little vision I had blurry before I squeezed my eyes shut in my desperate attempts to make the voices go quiet again.

_Shut up! Shut up! Leave me alone!_

Was this what a psychic pokémon's power was like? It was powerful, and I could see why many trainers chose not to pick these types to battle with. I finally screamed to drown out their voices and felt a sudden pressure all over my body, it disappeared soon and when it appeared again, I opened my eyes and Pipa sat on my chest, stopping the Thundershock. At first, I was confused and Karen rushed to my side, tears in her eyes. "You stupid idiot!" she shouted and slapped my face.

"Ow! Karen! What was that for?!"

The sting was still there and she wiped at her eyes to try and stop the tears. "You wouldn't wake up and it's almost one a.m. and you didn't call to let me know you were okay!" she snapped at me, and I hesitated. She was still worried, especially when Pipa jumped off of my chest and I sat up with a visible wince.

"How many times did you have Pipa shock me?" I mumbled, rubbing my chest, but the unexpected hug startled me into silence before I put an arm awkwardly around Karen's shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Karen?"

She sobbed into my chest. "Y-you wouldn't wake u-up! I thought y-you never would!"

"Now you're just being silly." I smiled gently to try and help calm her down. She laughed softly and she finally pulled away, wiping her eyes. "Better?"

She nodded. "Pipa and I were looking for you all night. We tried calling you fifteen times, and she heard the ringtone and followed it. What happened to you?"

I frowned, rubbing my head. "We got into a battle, but… he was way too strong for us. He knocked Luda out with one move, and Cid he just threw into a tree." Karen frowned deeply. "I need to get them to a pokémon center now. They're all hurt."

"But what happened to _you_?"

I looked at her, seeing her eyes staring me down, threatening to slap me again if I didn't tell her. "All I know is that a weird pokémon came out… He called it a Gardevoir and made it use Hypnosis on me. After that… I just kept having nightmares, like… like I was in a void of darkness or something. Everything was screaming, they were all in pain and screaming at the top of their lungs. I thought my head would implode or something."

She frowned and hugged me again, this time trying to comfort me. I knew why, I felt myself grow pale when I remembered the nightmare and I felt myself shaking a little. "I had Pipa shock you because you screamed. I think maybe Gardevoir did something else other than just a regular Hypnosis. Maybe a Dream Eater or something similar."

I shook my head. "If it was Dream Eater, I wouldn't have any dreams, right?" I sighed. "Let's just get to the pokémon center now."

As we walked back to the city, we were silent. I felt guilty that I had scared Karen to the point where she thought I was dying, even if it was for a few seconds. We entered the pokémon center with a sleepy Nurse Joy at the counter, but she took my pokémon immediately. She took Cid to the back, but Luda and Buster would be fine as long as they rested for the night. She gave Cid a potion for his bite wounds, and that by tomorrow he should be fine as well. Relieved, we made our way back to the hotel. Finally I looked at her as we entered our room. She looked exhausted, black circles under her eyes and when I took a glanced at my cell phone, I smiled a bit at the "16 Missed Calls" icon.

Of course, fifteen of them were from the very worried Karen and one of the calls in the middle was from Quinn. _Missed call at 12:38 a.m.? Why is she calling me so late?_ I got rid of the icons and texted my sister, _Hey, sorry I was asleep. Whyd you call me?_

Her response was quick as usual. _im calling now._

Oh look, semi-proper grammar from her! Not even three minutes later my phone rang and I answered it with a yawn. "What's up?"

"You have to be careful, Nim," her serious voice replied. "There are dangerous people near Pewter City and I only just—"

"Yea, about those dangerous people, I already met them." I could _hear_ her fury. Although she said nothing, she expected more of an explanation. "It wasn't my fault! Buster, Luda, Cid and I were training, and when I was going to go back to the hotel, a Geodude knocked me out, probably because I stepped on it or something, but when I woke up, Buster had knocked two humans and two pokémon out. We defeated the first one, he was easy, but… but the second guy…"

When I trailed off, Quinn grew irritated. "The second guy what, Nim? What happened?"

I sighed. She was going to be angry at me. Again. For my carelessness.

Or stupidity.

Or arrogance.

Or all three of them.

Yep, definitely all three and then some.

"I was stupid and challenged him to a battle even though I knew I shouldn't. He said he wanted to take Rhyhorn and Rhydon and make them demolish buildings, but he had a Mightyena and it just… squashed me without even blinking. Then he took a Gardevoir out and said that he wasn't going to kill me, because he wanted to battle me when I grew stronger, if I survived, and made the Gardevoir use Hypnosis. He said they were going to Saffron City if that helps. I'm okay, so don't be angry pretty please?"

Quinn sighed. "Nim. Why the _hell_ would you challenge him!" She didn't need to shout, I was already frightened of her calm voice. "Why were you stupid enough to do that? You should know better than to challenge them and _only_ to fight them when you have no other choice."

"I… I just didn't want any more innocent pokémon to be hurt, that's all!"

"If you keep that up, you're going to get yourself killed. I'm stuck in Unova for a few more weeks. You had better stay alive otherwise I'll bring you back and kill you myself." With that, she hung up and I sighed, closing my phone. Karen was coming out of the bathroom, yawning again. She looked too tired to even pay attention, but she smiled sleepily at me before flopping into the bed and not even a minute later, she was out like a light.

I prayed to Arceus she didn't hear what my sister and I were talking about.

I released Buster from his pokéball, smiling when he curled up in the bed as I crawled into the sheets. I scratched his ears a few times before I felt myself slipping away again, falling fast asleep without any dreams, no nightmares, no weird snow, no weird _anything_. Just me and a blissful sleep.

I was only half aware that my alarm went off at nine a.m.

How in the hell did it go from being three to nine?

Karen was in the same state as I was, still exhausted but she claimed the shower first, letting me get a few minutes of shut eye before she announced that the bathroom was free. I hadn't realized how sore I was until I got up, groaning quietly as I took off my shirt and tossed it onto the bed before heading to the bathroom. Karen stared at me, making me blink a few times as I paused at the door. "What?" I finally asked.

"N-nothing. Now hurry up and take your shower, stinky!" She turned away, going to pack her things.

I was so confused. Buster was over there on the bed, snickering his little self away. What in the world was their problem? Oi vay, I'm never going to understand women or Buster for that matter. The shower, though, was a completely different story. I felt like the hot water washed away all of my problems and worries, the stress and anger. I knew that Interpol knew about the Mafia, but added to my ever-growing list of problems, the hot water decided to give way to cold water. How long had I been in here? I groaned and turned the water off, wringing the water out of my hair as best I could before getting ready for the day.

After we left the hotel and fed the pokémon, I smiled. "Almost time to get that badge and finally leave this city. I'm so ready to go to Cerulean now."

"What's so special about Cerulean City?" Karen asked curiously, finishing her yogurt.

I smiled, probably one of my trademark goofy grins since she scowled a little. "They have that water show there. And it's full of girls in bikinis swimming around." I blinked at the look in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Ugh, boys. One track minds is what you boys have." She poked me in the arm and I blinked again as she tossed the yogurt container away. "Are you ready now?"

"You're suddenly anxious."

"If it gets you to stop talking about girls in bikinis then yes, now hurry up."

"Why are you jealous?"

"I'm not jealous!"

"Says the girl who doesn't like mermaid shows."

She face-palmed, recalling her pokémon and let Pipa follow her happily. Buster and I glanced at each other and shrugged in our mutual confusion. Girls were confusing creatures.

As we reached the gym, I could already tell it was a dreaded rock-type trainer, with all the boulders surrounding the paths and a man in the back turned his head and smiled. "Welcome! My name is Flint! Are you two challengers?" he called, taking out a pokéball.

"I am, she isn't." I rushed forward, pulling out Cid's pokéball. If my knowledge of weaknesses and strengths were correct, this should be an easy fight for Cid especially. "I'm here for the badge."

Flint nodded, squinting eyes looking at us up and down. "I hope you aren't using your Growlithe."

I grinned. "You'd be surprised at this little guy's strength." I watched him hop down the stairs and waved a hand for us to follow him into an arena-type setting. There were no stands, but a little boy was playing in the middle of the field and Flint groaned. "What's wrong? That kid yours?"

"Yes, Brock. He's always getting into something." He crossed his arms. "Brock, go back inside the house!" Then he mumbled to us, "Terrible twos, that's for sure."

Karen giggled and as soon as the toddler waddled out with his, I assumed, mother, Flint took one side of the arena while I took the other. Pipa and her trainer sat back on a bench though Karen blinked when Apes came out to sit beside her. "You want to watch?" Apes bobbed his head up and down, causing another giggle to escape Karen.

"This will be a two versus two match. The challenger may switch out at any time," said a man to the side, in a very much referee style shirt and hat. "Begin!"

"Onix, I choose you!" Flint shouted and threw out the pokéball. The monster of a pokémon appeared, roaring as soon as it was released. Oh, boy, I hoped Cid could take this big guy on.

"Cid! Use Leech Seed!" I shouted and threw his pokéball out. Dozens of little seeds hit Onix and exploded into roots, each of them wrapping around Onix tightly. Onix didn't seem to know what was going on and winced a few times. "Now use Poison Powder!"

The purple powder flew towards the slow Onix, and Flint grunted. "Onix, use Rock Throw!"

Several rocks were thrown at Cid, who dodged most of them easily. Guess this little guy wasn't too shabby. I smiled. "Grab that one with Vine Whip and throw it back at him!" Cid happily obeyed, dancing around until he found the perfect one. He wrapped two vines around it and with all his might threw it back at Onix.

It shouted with pain, crashing into the ground with a loud _THUD_ and sent dust flying everywhere. It seemed to be growing weak, becoming out of breath soon. "Onix? Onix, are you okay?"

I grinned. "The combination of Poison Powder and Leech Seed will sap away your pokémon's energy in no time. Cid, use Vine Whip and end this match!" Onix didn't stand a chance against Cid, who beamed proudly at me as soon as Onix fainted.

"Onix is unable to battle, the victor is Bulbasaur!" the referee called. _Gee, thanks, I wouldn't have ever guessed! Thanks for clearing that up, buddy!_ Karen cheered for me and Apes nodded in approval, looking like he was smiling as well.

Flint frowned a little as he recalled Onix, then grinned as he pulled out his second and last pokémon. "Well, that one went quicker than I thought. But let's see how well you do against Rhyhorn!"

Rhyhorn. The dullest looking pokémon I have ever seen. Why in the hell would the Mafia want one of those walking rocks anyway?

I pushed the thought out of my head and smiled with Cid. "That's all right, we're just getting started."

* * *

**A/N: I always had no trouble with Brock in Pokemon Red. He, Misty, Blaine and Erika were always the easiest gym leaders for me.  
**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"_I still get nightmares. In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I'm not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares."_

_-Mark Z. Danielewski_

Rhyhorn wasn't very smart, nor was it fast. Its attack and defense, though, was massive and proved difficult for Cid to keep a hold of with vines or even having a Leech Seed sapping its health away little by little. The spikes-covered pokémon stomped its paws onto the ground for a Rock Tomb to try and trap Cid again. The smaller pokémon dodged the attack with ease, grinning ear to ear as he used his vines to move himself around even faster from falling rocks.

I could tell Flint was getting frustrated with the much faster pokémon. His face was contorted in a way that told me he was trying to think of a way to slow him down, but I didn't know what. I knew he could make Rhyhorn try to surround Cid, but the little Bulbasaur was too fast for it, even if it decided to charge straight for him again. The Leech Seed that was on Rhyhorn was starting to make it slow down as well, but it was going far too slowly and I wished it would do more. We had tried poisoning it, but it didn't work either, so I just decided to try and get Cid to keep avoiding rocks.

It would exhaust them both, but Rhyhorn would collapse faster than Cid, I was sure of it. Cid was starting to pant from all this running around and although he seemed like he was having fun battling, I was positive that he was ready to take a break soon.

Flint grinned so suddenly, it startled me. "Rhyhorn, use Rock Tomb again!"

I frowned. What was he up to? Rhyhorn completely missed Cid, but it seemed like it was on purpose. The rocks fell almost like a normal Rock Slide, but instead of being all over the place, it was completely controlled and formed a wall that divided the field in half. Cid looked confused, looking at me for direction and turned his tired head back to Rhyhorn. "Brace yourself, Cid. I don't know—"

"Use Fury Attack against the rocks!" Rhyhorn gave a cry and charged at the fallen rocks that had made the wall; in seconds it was all destroyed, small pebbles flew everywhere and the dust was thick in the air. I coughed into my elbow but I vaguely heard Flint's voice then shout, "Use Horn Attack! Finish that Bulbasaur!"

"Dodge it, Cid!"

It was too late; I heard Cid's cry when he was hit and soon after the seed pokémon fell in front of me, out cold and the dust cleared soon after. "Saur, bulbasaur," Cid mumbled after I picked him up and he promptly started crying.

"Oh, it's okay, Cid. You did your best." I smiled when the tears slowed almost as fast as they had come and Cid looked up at me with confused eyes again. "Not every battle you will win. Now go sit by Karen and Apes, okay?" Cid pouted but nodded, waddling over to the other two to rest contently.

I turned towards Flint and Rhyhorn again. I knew full well that Buster wouldn't be able to handle a rock- and ground-type pokémon, knowing also that if he was hit with one of those devastating Rock Tombs, he was out in one hit. So that left me with Luda. She wasn't as strong as Buster was, nor was she as agile as Cid, but she was definitely fast and she held more defense in that snake-like body of hers than the other two. "Luda! Go!"

Luda appeared in a flash and she raised her head proudly. "Tini!" she shouted and blinked at the Rhyhorn and turned her head towards me, giving me the look that said, _You can't be serious, can you?_

After she turned her head back, Flint was smiling. "Never seen a Dratini in person, guess there's a first time for everything, huh?" He pointed at Luda. "Rhyhorn, use Rock Tomb!"

"Luda, dodge it! Then use ExtremeSpeed to get up close!"

Luda obeyed quickly, using her speed to get up close to the Rhyhorn from the side.

"Now use Dragon Rage!"

I was expecting the hit not to be very effective against the bulky pokémon, but when I saw the result, I was more than pleased. It wasn't strong enough to break any of the spikes on its body, but it did enough damage to cause the charging pokémon to stumble and fall.

As the light hit the sturdy pokémon, Flint cried out for it. Rhyhorn crashed into the ground and got back up slowly, looking more enraged than anything. It looked tired and panted as it stomped a hoof onto the floor. I was only happy that Leech Seed was still on it, sapping its strength away to the point where it was stumbling around almost like it was drunk. Luda was receiving the benefits of the Leech Seed by sapping away the health little by little and slowly it was growing too tired to even run at the dragon. For now, however, I smiled. "Luda, finish this off with Twister!"

"Tin—IIIIII!" she screeched and Rhyhorn tried bracing itself onto the floor. Despite all its weight and bulkiness, it wasn't good enough.

My little dragon had managed to pick up the heavy pokémon clear off of the ground and once it reached the roof, Luda let it go, letting it fall hard and hit a large rock, shattering it as it hit the rock with full force.

"Rhyhorn! Rhyhorn, are you all right?!" Flint shouted but as soon as the dust cleared, the referee on the side raised a flag towards my side.

"_Rhyhorn is unable to battle. The victor goes to Dratini and the battle by the challenger!"_

For a moment, I was startled. I couldn't believe that I had actually won this battle, and on the first try, even! I guess all that training from before had really made the difference. As I let it sink in, Karen gave a happy screech, startling me as Apes rubbed his ear, looking nearly dazed from the sudden noise. From behind me, Buster tackled into me, sending us both crashing to the ground with yelps of shock and happiness. Buster barked joyfully and I felt an added weight as Cid and Luda jumped onto my back as well. "You're too heavy!" I objected and rolled them all off to sit up. Flint was smiling and standing beside me, offering a hand to help me up. "Thanks."

"Eh, don't mention it. Your pokémon really like you. I always enjoy seeing trainers and their pokémon having their moments." He reached into his chest pocket, pulling out a gray object. It had a small pin on the back of it to keep it somewhere, and he didn't even need to explain it to me as to what it was. I already knew that this was the badge, the first out of seven that I needed. Well. Eight. But the eighth gym wasn't even finished being constructed. You get what I mean. Flint decided to continue speaking, as if it was greatly rehearsed. "This is the Boulder Badge. You earned it, kid."

I smiled brightly, taking it and showed it off to Karen when she finally reached us as well. "Look at that! Isn't it amazing?" she asked and giggled, but looked up as Flint came back, holding a disk with a button in the middle of it. "What's that?"

"This is a technical machine, also known as a TM."

He handed it to me, but my confusion only grew. "What does it do?" I asked as Luda perched on my shoulders, staring at it in wonder.

"A TM holds any move, it is downloaded from a system onto the disk and all you have to do is press the button in the middle to let any pokémon learn it. A TM breaks after the first use, however. This particular one is known as TM39, more commonly known as Rock Tomb." I stared at the TM but smiled again, nodding in understanding as I put it into my backpack. "Every gym you go to, the gym leader will hand a badge and TM to you if you defeat them like you did to me. Your next challenge is in Cerulean City, right outside of Mount Moon. Now go on, get out of here, I have to clean this mess up."

We ran out joyfully and Karen waved at Flint when we left. As the gym doors closed behind us, I looked at the badge in my hand and smiled again. "I should tell the professor about this. The pokémon seem to be happy that I got a badge too, huh?" I looked at Buster, who barked happily and Luda nodded along with Cid as he rode on Buster's back.

I was oh so very proud of my pokémon, even Buster. Although he didn't fight in the gym battle against Flint, he was there watching patiently as if he knew I wasn't going to send him in there willingly but for a moment, I wondered if I had over-trained them. Flint had been so _easy_ I wondered if all of the gym leaders were going to be like that. They couldn't be! They wouldn't be called _leaders_ if they would be defeated by ten-year-old kids walking around the Kanto region by themselves, right?

I watched as the roads of Pewter City started to dwindle away as we made our way out of the town and into the path towards the large mountain. It was intimidating in its size, but overall, the beauty of the mountain overlooked the dangers. I hoped it wasn't dangerous inside, I heard it was filled with those annoying Zubat that loved to fly around Viridian City at night and eat the fruit off of the trees.

"Are you sure this is the only way to get to Cerulean City?" Karen asked, scowling at the mountain. "I can already tell we're going to get lost in there."

My train of thought was immediately broken, but I didn't mind. I raised my head towards the peak of the mountain, grinning. "I don't know of any other way, but the other way around is to go through an underground path that's riddled with thieves and gangs," I replied and shuddered. I didn't need any more criminals after me, I had enough problems as it was. "Besides, when I was out here at night, the view was spectacular. I also heard that there is a pokémon center right beside the entrance so we can stay there for the night before making our way through the cave."

"Good, I don't want to have to tackle that in one day too."

The rest of our walk up to the base of Mt Moon was filled with a blissful silence, save for Cid's snoring, but it allowed Karen and I to actually _listen_ to what was going on around us. I could hear the cries of pokémon I've never heard before and how much life happened around us. It reminded me of home so badly that I nearly stumbled and fell on my face since I wasn't paying any attention as to where I was going. Karen looked at me with the are-you-okay look as Buster snorted at me. He could easily tell I was riddled with homesickness.

We took a break for lunch nearly halfway through the route and as Karen and I ate our sandwiches, I smiled as Buster played with Cid and Daxter, his tail wagging so hard I thought it'd come off for sure. Apes ate his own meal in silence, but he never moved from Karen's side, which was odd to me, but Pipa quickly finished her own meal and dashed off to play with the others as well. "Pika pi!" she cried out and Buster turned his head towards her, panting and Daxter instantly went to her, making me chuckle.

"Is she Daxter's mother figure now?" I asked curiously as I watched.

Karen turned her head and nodded. "I think so. Or at least an older sister. They're so close to each other, like Buster and Cid. They both know that they need to help take care of the baby pokémon, and it's amazing. They are completely different species, sure they're all being raised by humans, but it is still odd that they would take any younger pokémon under their care. It brings hope to me that this world isn't as devastated as I thought."

I blinked as I took in her words, turning my head towards her. Her hair fell in front of her face and Apes even looked at her curiously. "Are you all right? Karen?"

She looked up and nodded, but she quickly wiped her eyes. "Yep. I'm okay. It's nothing. But I think we need to get going. We'll make it to the pokémon center by dinner time, and we'll all be too tired to go through Mount Moon today."

As she recalled Apes and Daxter, Pipa darted up to her shoulder. I brushed off the unusual display of emotion from her for the time being and recalled Cid and Luda as I stood up. "Well, we should get going then, right?"

She nodded quietly.

Her sudden change of demeanor startled even Pipa, and every time I tried to ask her what was wrong, she shot me down and we continued on in silence. Worry for Karen was replaced with frustration and I decided not to pressure her more in hopes she would tell me what was going on in that head of hers later. For all it was worth, women are strange creatures that have mood swings every five seconds. Quinn was no exception; she had many mood swings from the overprotective sister to the serious personality she was usually in, to the worried motherly figure, to a bitchy person and finally to an awesome best friend. I momentarily wondered if that's how all siblings felt like with each other.

The sun decided to set far sooner than either of us had anticipated, but I was grateful that I could see the lights of a pokémon center not too far away. Pokémon centers meant rest, food and a phone to call the professor. Karen yawned and headed straight for the front desk to get keys for a room while I went to the phones. I know I was supposed to be in uniform, but I was too exhausted to care. The phone rang twice before the professor picked it up, still in his lab coat and drinking a cup full of something steaming. "Ah! Nimondor. I see you're still out and about. Calling from the Mount Moon Pokémon Center." Professor Bougainvillea seemed to smile under that moustache and beard of his. "And I can see why you aren't in uniform. You, my boy, look tired."

I smiled despite myself. I hadn't known the old guy long enough, but he was a kind person that understood how much I didn't care about uniforms for the time being. "I just wanted to give you a quick call is all, it seems like Buster is playing a father figure for Cid, and the same goes for Pipa and Daxter. It's like they know that they're only babies and that they need to be taken care of." I pulled my back pack in front of me. "Speaking of which, look what Cid helped earn us." I pulled out the badge proudly, and I saw the professor's tired eyes light up.

"Oh! That's a badge, I presume? The Boulder Badge, how wonderful! And you say that little Bulbasaur earned it for you?"

"Well, he defeated an Onix by himself but a Rhyhorn took him out the next round. Luda defeated it and we took the badge home. Oh! And Flint gave us a TM as well. I'm not really sure if I'm going to use it or not, but I'll hold onto it and see what I can do with it."

Professor Bougainvillea nodded. "Good, good. Do mind if I can see Cid for a moment?"

I pulled out Cid's pokéball—

And instantly regretted ever letting him out.

A Vine Whip greeted me in the face, probably for waking him up. The professor didn't seem to care about me as much as Cid, and I noticed him pausing as Cid sniffed the camera curiously. "He's grown exponentially but his coloring is looking a little bit darker." I blinked. How could I not have noticed that? Before I could panic, the professor smiled. "I think it's good. He is growing very quickly under your care. It looks like he is a very healthy pokémon."

I sighed in relief and yelped when a Bubble hit me in the side of my head, promptly knocking me out of the seat. Daxter hopped up onto the desk beside Cid and I groaned, sitting up and rubbed my head. I could hear Professor Bougainvillea's laughter from the floor. "Squirt?"

"Daxter! You should know better!" Karen scolded and Daxter pouted but Karen took my seat anyway as I stood up again. She pulled Daxter into her arms, turning him so that Professor Bougainvillea could see his tail.

"Daxter is looking healthier as well. Oh? What's that?"

Karen patted Daxter's head and pointed towards his tail. "It's starting to turn white, and he's starting to grow a little white on his head too. I think it means he's close to evolving into something else."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see what they both evolve into, now don't we?" As I picked Cid up, the bulb pokémon rubbed his head against my chin cheerfully, as if it would take away the pain my cheek was in from his whip. It was his way of an apology and I couldn't help but to accept it while the professor and Karen spoke with each other.

The last thing I heard as I got distracted with Cid was, "…joining." I looked over at the screen, blinking. "Now both of you should get some sleep. He'll be there by morning."

After they hung up, I was confused and Karen stood up. "Let's get going then, our room is number fourteen."

I followed her wearily and set Cid down to follow me alongside Buster. "What was he talking about? I wasn't paying much attention at the end."

"Oh, he was just saying that one of our classmates would be joining us. Apparently, Daniel and Shawn can't get into the Seafoam Islands."

That drew confusion. "What? Why not?"

Karen opened the door to our room and stepped inside, instantly dropping her things beside the door. "There's a volcano on the first island, which is called Knot Island. It seems like it's going to erupt any time, the entire Sevii Islands have been evacuated, and they aren't letting anyone onto the islands right now. So Daniel is going to join us and Shawn is going to go with Marian and Cory."

"Volcanoes? I thought there was only one on Cinnabar Island."

"Well, the ocean is riddled with volcanoes. Didn't you know that's how islands are made? From volcanoes?"

I blushed a bit, sure that I'd be the color of lava if I embarrass myself any further.

"Anyway, I'm going to take a shower."

She smiled at me and I groaned. "You always shower first."

"Ladies first, silly." She giggled and dashed inside of the restroom, closing the door tightly. She cracked it open not even five seconds later. "And no peeking!"

"Why the hell would I peek? You're so random, I swear."

"Because you're a guy. Guys like to peek."

"Perverts do. Plus, I'd peek if you let me—ow!" She threw the bar of soap at my face so fast, Buster didn't even look worried. Cid joined in his laughter while Karen shut the door. I think my mouth says things before my brain could register it.

I rubbed my cheek and looked outside. I don't know why, but suddenly I was starting to remember that man that claimed to be the Mafia's leader. What he said about wanting to kill me himself terrified me, who wouldn't be scared if someone wants to kill you? Not only that, he also said that Yin, that awful woman, enjoyed seeing people in pain. That was why she was smiling so much when she had paralyzed me during our meeting in Viridian Forest. That frightened me even more, what if she got her hands on Karen? Those pokémon of hers were very, _very_ strong. The same goes for her boss!

Now that Daniel was going to join us, the super serious guy would probably find out faster what happened with me than if I told Karen straight-up. He seemed to be very smart and calculating, and even though I'd only met him once, we were all on this same journey, introductory class, whatever it's called.

It also meant that he was in danger as well.

If either of them found out about this gang of thieves and murderers, then they would be hunted down as well, wouldn't they? They didn't seem to be the kind of people who'd let anyone live after they'd seen them, much less anyone who had stupidly decided to wander into a truck full of stolen pokémon and release every single one. It made me wonder how Luda had fallen into their grasp, why Yin had wanted Buster so badly. She probably still did.

To me, all that mattered was trying to protect my pokémon, friends and classmates from them.

Karen came out of the shower and announced she was finished with it and as I headed inside, the extra bar of soap in hand, I was determined to keep that secret safe with me.

I needed to keep her safe. I didn't know why, but she mattered so much to me already, despite knowing her for only a few short days or her annoying mood swings. She held her own secrets, it was obvious to me, but whatever happened to her she didn't want to talk about it just as much as I didn't want to talk about mine.

After I closed the door, I hesitated. Was I falling for her? Quite possibly. It would explain my sudden protective feelings for her, or maybe it would explain how frustrated I would get with her when she was upset and she wouldn't talk about it. Maybe it would explain the tomato-red face I had as I stared at myself in the mirror. It matched the shade of my hair at that point. _I'm not really just thinking about her am I? Actually, I think I am. Arceus damn it._

I shook my head and turned on the water, slapping my cheeks gently to clear my head. These thoughts of mine really do have to stop. Pretty girls like her just don't fall for simple, video-game loving guys like me.

Reality check: step 1 of 1—complete.

With the eventful morning and non-eventful afternoon past me, I got out of the shower in record time and didn't even go get something to eat. I noticed Karen decided the same thing and was currently snoozing away in bed but I could tell she was still awake since she stroked Pipa's fur as the little rodent hopped up onto the bed. "Chaa…" the Pikachu crooned and Karen's tired laugh escaped the sheets. Apes and Daxter were out of their pokéballs as well, as was Luda, who was currently waiting for me with Cid and Buster to get to bed.

It took a whole ten minutes for me to fall asleep, but it wasn't the peaceful rest I'd hoped for. Instead, a new nightmare decided to plague my mind, replaying memories of my encounters with Yin and her boss, their threats and their sheer power. I dreamt they took my pokémon away and I never saw them again, that they did the same thing to Karen, my mother and my sister. I was grateful when I felt that licking on my face, I knew it was Buster trying to wake me up.

The moment my eyes snapped open and my eyes focused on that orange fuzzy face, he looked relieved and he whined softly, not wanting to wake the others up as he nudged my face again. "I'm okay, buddy," I muttered, scratching his fur. I rolled onto my back, rubbing my face with both hands to get not only slobber off of me, but to prepare myself to get up and take a good look at the alarm clock.

_3:57 a.m._

I turned my head away from it with a quiet groan, closing my eyes and put my forearm over my eyes. I was pretty sure I wasn't going back to sleep. "Buster? Do you think I'll be able to protect them?" I muttered to my small companion.

Buster flicked his ears but he seemed to understand what I was asking. He looked at the other bed full of sleeping pokémon and single human, then turned his head back to me with a nod. "Grow."

I smiled and patted his side. This little guy had a huge heart, he was very intelligent for a Growlithe and he was turning into that best friend I could tell anything and he wouldn't say a single syllable to anyone if he could speak. It was always nice to have someone that would just _listen_, no matter what the topic was about.

I regretted ever trying to push that annoying little furball away back home.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! Follow/favorite/review!  
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